Jennison Associates LLC Raises Holdings in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. $MLM

Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 7.9% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 32,303 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,373 shares during the quarter. Jennison Associates LLC’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $19,016,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MLM. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 2.6% during the first quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 111,756 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $65,789,000 after acquiring an additional 2,817 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 21.4% in the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 35,787 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $21,067,000 after purchasing an additional 6,301 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 8,309 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $4,892,000 after purchasing an additional 327 shares during the period. Wealthfront Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 6,375 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $3,753,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Finally, Checchi Capital Advisers LLC increased its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 1,343 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $791,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MLM has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $675.00 to $640.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Raymond James Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $690.00 to $675.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Zacks Research raised shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. B. Riley Financial upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $700.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Martin Marietta Materials presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $681.53.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

Martin Marietta Materials stock opened at $547.33 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $577.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $611.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.87 billion, a PE ratio of 13.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 2.28. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a one year low of $525.38 and a one year high of $710.97.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The construction company reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.15. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 10.27% and a net margin of 38.67%.The firm had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.90 EPS. Martin Marietta Materials’s quarterly revenue was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st were paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio is 7.91%.

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.