We at Insider Monkey have gone over 700 13F filings that hedge funds and prominent investors are required to file by the government. The 13F filings show the funds’ and investors’ portfolio positions as of September 30. In this article we look at what those investors think of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM).
Is Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) ready to rally soon? Hedge funds are betting on the stock. The number of bullish hedge fund bets improved by 2 recently. MLM was in 47 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of September. There were 45 hedge funds in our database with MLM holdings at the end of the previous quarter. At the end of this article we will also compare MLM to other stocks, including Banco de Chile (ADR) (NYSE:BCH), Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK), and Ralph Lauren Corp (NYSE:RL) to get a better sense of its popularity.
Follow Martin Marietta Materials Inc (NYSE:MLM)
Follow Martin Marietta Materials Inc (NYSE:MLM)
If you’d ask most market participants, hedge funds are assumed to be slow, outdated investment vehicles of yesteryear. While there are greater than an 8000 funds in operation today, Our experts look at the bigwigs of this club, about 700 funds. It is estimated that this group of investors have their hands on most of all hedge funds’ total capital, and by shadowing their first-class investments, Insider Monkey has identified a number of investment strategies that have historically defeated the market. Insider Monkey’s small-cap hedge fund strategy outpaced the S&P 500 index by 12 percentage points a year for a decade in their back tests.
Now, we’re going to take a glance at the latest action encompassing Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM).
How have hedgies been trading Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)?
At the Q3’s end, a total of 47 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 4% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes significantly (or already accumulated large positions).
When looking at the institutional investors followed by Insider Monkey, John Armitage’s Egerton Capital Limited has the most valuable position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM), worth close to $400.5 million, comprising 4.5% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Tom Russo’s Gardner Russo & Gardner, with a $314.6 million position; 2.8% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other peers with similar optimism consist of David Cohen and Harold Levy’s Iridian Asset Management, John Smith Clark’s Southpoint Capital Advisors and Richard Chilton’s Chilton Investment Company.
As aggregate interest increased, specific money managers have been driving this bullishness. Tudor Investment Corp, managed by Paul Tudor Jones, established the largest position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM). Tudor Investment Corp had $9.3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. George Hall’s Clinton Group also initiated a $6.2 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new MLM positions are GLG Partners, Ed Bosek’s BeaconLight Capital, and John Fichthorn’s Dialectic Capital Management.
Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Banco de Chile (ADR) (NYSE:BCH), Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK), Ralph Lauren Corp (NYSE:RL), and Kimco Realty Corp (NYSE:KIM). This group of stocks’ market values resemble MLM’s market value.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| BCH | 4 | 28046 | -1 |
| ALK | 34 | 1360529 | -4 |
| RL | 33 | 700581 | 5 |
| KIM | 13 | 110750 | -7 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 21 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $550 million. That figure was $1.89 billion in MLM’s case. Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK) is the most popular stock in this table with a total of 34 funds reporting long positions, while Banco de Chile (ADR) (NYSE:BCH) is the least popular one. Compared to these stocks Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) is more popular among hedge funds. Considering that hedge funds are fond of this stock in relation to its market cap peers, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and potentially include it in your portfolio.
