Catalyst Financial Partners LLC Takes Position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Catalyst Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 403 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MLM. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 1.2% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 7,900 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $3,243,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 9.9% in the third quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 6,834 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,805,000 after purchasing an additional 615 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. acquired a new position in Martin Marietta Materials in the third quarter valued at approximately $430,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 3.6% in the third quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 5,295 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,141,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IFM Investors Pty Ltd boosted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 4.6% in the third quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 12,418 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $5,097,000 after purchasing an additional 551 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Martin Marietta Materials news, EVP Roselyn R. Bar sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $603.29, for a total value of $6,032,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 59,970 shares in the company, valued at $36,179,301.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Roselyn R. Bar sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $603.29, for a total value of $6,032,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 59,970 shares in the company, valued at $36,179,301.30. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Sue W. Cole sold 1,724 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $543.48, for a total value of $936,959.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 19,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,757,099.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 26,724 shares of company stock worth $16,033,760. 0.68% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on MLM shares. StockNews.com downgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Stephens increased their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $575.00 to $605.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. HSBC raised Martin Marietta Materials from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $376.00 to $543.00 in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Raymond James increased their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $505.00 to $555.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $635.00 to $708.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $598.17.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MLM traded up $6.56 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $603.20. 269,177 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 415,079. The company has a quick ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 3.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $600.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $526.10. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $389.90 and a 1-year high of $626.67. The firm has a market cap of $37.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.95.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The construction company reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.88 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 14.74% and a net margin of 31.35%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.16 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 21.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 4th were given a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. Martin Marietta Materials’s payout ratio is 8.77%.

Martin Marietta Materials Profile

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.