Chesapeake Capital Corp IL Takes Position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. $MLM

Chesapeake Capital Corp IL acquired a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 1,475 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $930,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 31.9% in 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. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials during the second quarter worth about $233,811,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 9.6% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,204,425 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,389,428,000 after purchasing an additional 192,637 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,442,945 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $4,691,139,000 after purchasing an additional 93,595 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 141.3% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 117,872 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $74,292,000 after purchasing an additional 69,016 shares in the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MLM has been the topic of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $785.00 price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $706.00 to $702.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $630.00 price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $631.00 to $612.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $780.00 to $804.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $696.88.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

Shares of MLM stock opened at $584.08 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $35.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.07, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.13. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $441.95 and a fifty-two week high of $710.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.36 and a current ratio of 3.57. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $654.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $632.51.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The construction company reported $4.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.81 by ($0.19). Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 10.86% and a net margin of 17.38%.The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.66 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $4.79 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 2nd will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 2nd. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.66%.

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.