380,202 Shares in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) Purchased by Raymond James Financial Inc.

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 380,202 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $196,374,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned about 0.62% of Martin Marietta Materials at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MLM. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 11.6% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 317 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $171,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 8.2% in the third quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,734 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $933,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Forte Capital LLC ADV bought a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the third quarter worth about $557,000. Graypoint LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 2.9% in the third quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 1,501 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $808,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $876,648,000 after acquiring an additional 704,460 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Down 3.1 %

Martin Marietta Materials stock opened at $461.02 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 2.50. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $448.50 and a 52-week high of $633.23. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $518.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $543.18. The firm has a market cap of $28.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.26, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.89.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The construction company reported $4.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analysts predict that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.53 EPS for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.77%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on MLM. Stephens dropped their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $515.00 to $640.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $563.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus assumed coverage on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a research report on Tuesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $559.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.36.

Insider Buying and Selling at Martin Marietta Materials

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

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.