Choate Investment Advisors Acquires 33 Shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Choate Investment Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 5.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 595 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the quarter. Choate Investment Advisors’ holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $307,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC boosted its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 15.5% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC now owns 25,242 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $13,037,000 after acquiring an additional 3,384 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 18.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 8,220 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $4,914,000 after acquiring an additional 1,286 shares during the last quarter. RMR Wealth Builders boosted its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 431.3% during the 4th quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 2,391 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,235,000 after acquiring an additional 1,941 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 2,448.1% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,376 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $741,000 after acquiring an additional 1,322 shares during the last quarter. Finally, InTrack Investment Management Inc boosted its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 33.9% during the 4th quarter. InTrack Investment Management Inc now owns 3,446 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,784,000 after acquiring an additional 872 shares during the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Up 2.5 %

Shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock opened at $489.30 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $513.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $540.64. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $448.50 and a 1 year high of $633.23. The company has a market capitalization of $29.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.13, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.50 and a quick ratio of 1.40.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The construction company reported $4.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.62 by $0.17. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 12.11% and a net margin of 30.54%. Research analysts forecast that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.53 EPS for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Martin Marietta Materials’s payout ratio is 9.77%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Martin Marietta Materials news, EVP Donald A. Mccunniff sold 1,332 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $475.00, for a total transaction of $632,700.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,523 shares in the company, valued at $1,673,425. This trade represents a 27.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Michael J. Petro acquired 550 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $454.37 per share, for a total transaction of $249,903.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,985 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,082,514.45. This trade represents a 6.52 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 0.68% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on MLM. Stifel Nicolaus began coverage on Martin Marietta Materials in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $559.00 price target for the company. Loop Capital cut their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $680.00 to $645.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $657.00 to $622.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Stephens cut their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Martin Marietta Materials has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.36.

Martin Marietta Materials Company Profile

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.