Short Interest in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) Rises By 19.7%

Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,640,000 shares, an increase of 19.7% from the February 13th total of 1,370,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 505,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.2 days. Currently, 2.7% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Martin Marietta Materials

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MLM. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,174,183 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $3,705,466,000 after buying an additional 36,531 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 23.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,678,425 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,441,663,000 after acquiring an additional 506,705 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 15.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,515,441 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,353,936,000 after acquiring an additional 334,605 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,819,744 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $939,898,000 after acquiring an additional 191,043 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi lifted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,562,146 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $808,005,000 after purchasing an additional 148,065 shares in the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MLM. Barclays reduced their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $645.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of 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. Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on Martin Marietta Materials in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $559.00 target price on the stock. Hsbc Global Res raised Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $670.00 to $610.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Martin Marietta Materials presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $628.64.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

NYSE:MLM traded down $1.59 on Thursday, hitting $488.62. The stock had a trading volume of 122,659 shares, compared to its average volume of 558,672. Martin Marietta Materials has a 52-week low of $448.50 and a 52-week high of $633.23. The stock has a market cap of $29.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 2.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $512.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $539.97.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The construction company reported $4.79 earnings per share (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%. As a group, research analysts predict that Martin Marietta Materials will post 19.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

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

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.