Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd. Buys New Position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd. purchased a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 1,000 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $517,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MLM. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 76.2% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,628,701 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $876,648,000 after purchasing an additional 704,460 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 23.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,678,425 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,441,663,000 after buying an additional 506,705 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 15.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,515,441 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,353,936,000 after buying an additional 334,605 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 7,608.2% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 181,373 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $97,624,000 after buying an additional 179,020 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 54.2% in the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 467,782 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $251,784,000 after acquiring an additional 164,503 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of MLM stock opened at $552.43 on Wednesday. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $490.05 and a 1-year high of $633.23. The company has a market cap of $33.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.21, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 2.34 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $554.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $551.16.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The construction company reported $5.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.41 by ($0.50). Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 12.53% and a net margin of 30.47%. The company had revenue of $1.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $6.94 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 17.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.57%. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.85%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MLM has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $657.00 to $622.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Raymond James dropped their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $640.00 to $630.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $730.00 price target for the company. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $650.00 to $635.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Martin Marietta Materials presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $648.71.

About Martin Marietta Materials

Martin Marietta Materials, Inc, a natural resource-based building materials company, supplies aggregates and heavy-side building materials to the construction industry in the United States and internationally. It offers crushed stone, sand, and gravel products; ready mixed concrete and asphalt; paving products and services; and Portland and specialty cement for use in the infrastructure projects, and nonresidential and residential construction markets, as well as in the railroad, agricultural, utility, and environmental industries.