Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Acquires New Shares in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. $MLM

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. acquired a new position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 1,020 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $588,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials during the 2nd quarter worth about $2,706,134,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 51.8% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,448,928 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,524,853,000 after buying an additional 836,120 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Martin Marietta Materials during the fourth quarter worth about $354,681,000. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 31.9% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,340,677 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,284,938,000 after acquiring an additional 565,856 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $199,321,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MLM has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Stephens lowered their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $664.00 to $639.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $739.00 to $715.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Wolfe Research set a $648.00 target price on Martin Marietta Materials in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $700.00 to $680.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 31st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $665.29.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Up 0.2%

MLM opened at $532.74 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.41. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a one year low of $522.19 and a one year high of $710.97. The company has a market cap of $32.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.09, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.11. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $565.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $592.76.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The construction company reported $5.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.76 by $0.24. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 9.49% and a net margin of 36.73%.The firm had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $5.43 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 21.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.84 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 1st. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. This is an increase from Martin Marietta Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.16%.

Martin Marietta Materials Company Profile

Martin Marietta Materials, Inc (NYSE: MLM) is a leading producer of aggregates and heavy building materials serving the construction and infrastructure markets. The company operates quarries, sand and gravel pits, and other extraction sites to supply crushed stone, sand and gravel, and a range of value?added products for use in roads, bridges, commercial and residential construction, and other civil engineering projects.

In addition to its core aggregates business, Martin Marietta manufactures and sells asphalt, ready?mixed concrete and related materials and services.