Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Buys New Shares in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. $MLM

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 18,024 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,360,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 31.9% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Martin Marietta Materials during the second quarter valued at approximately $233,811,000. State Street Corp grew its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 2.0% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,825,325 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,550,990,000 after purchasing an additional 56,353 shares in the last quarter. Shellback Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,089,000. Finally, Man Group plc acquired a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,458,000. 95.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MLM has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $670.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. B. Riley started coverage on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $700.00 target price for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $660.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 22nd. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $670.63.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Up 1.7%

MLM opened at $641.47 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $627.48 and a 200-day moving average of $614.17. The company has a market capitalization of $38.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.81 and a beta of 1.15. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $441.95 and a fifty-two week high of $668.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a current ratio of 2.97.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The construction company reported $5.97 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $6.62 by ($0.65). Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 17.34% and a return on equity of 11.68%. The business had revenue of $1.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.06 billion. On average, equities analysts expect that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.53 EPS for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 1st were issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 1st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.50%.

About Martin Marietta Materials

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.