Kestra Investment Management LLC Invests $35,000 in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 67 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 76.2% in the third 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 period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in 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 valued at $1,441,663,000 after purchasing an additional 506,705 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 15.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,515,441 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,353,936,000 after purchasing an additional 334,605 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 7,608.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 179,020 shares during the period. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 54.2% in the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 467,782 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $251,784,000 after purchasing an additional 164,503 shares during the period. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MLM has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $515.00 to $640.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Raymond James lowered their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $701.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Martin Marietta Materials currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $639.43.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Down 3.2 %

NYSE MLM opened at $489.94 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $530.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $547.08. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $482.72 and a 52 week high of $633.23. The company has a current ratio of 2.50, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The stock has a market cap of $29.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.15, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.91.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The construction company reported $4.79 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.62 by $0.17. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 30.54% and a return on equity of 12.11%. Equities research analysts predict that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.79 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.64%. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.77%.

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.