Empower Advisory Group LLC Purchases 47 Shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Empower Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 12.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 427 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $221,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MLM. First Personal Financial Services bought a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials during the third quarter worth $33,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Larson Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the third quarter valued at about $49,000. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC raised its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 60.3% in the fourth quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 101 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. 95.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MLM shares. Raymond James dropped their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $657.00 to $622.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $730.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $515.00 to $640.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Martin Marietta Materials has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $639.43.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Down 3.0 %

MLM opened at $505.47 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $531.34 and its 200-day moving average is $547.49. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $482.72 and a 1-year 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 company has a market cap of $30.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.63, a PEG ratio of 4.69 and a beta of 0.91.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The construction company reported $4.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.63%. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.