Is Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) a good bet right now? We like to analyze hedge fund sentiment before doing days of in-depth research. We do so because hedge funds and other elite investors have numerous Ivy league graduates, expert network advisers, and supply chain tipsters working or consulting for them. There is not a shortage of news stories covering failed hedge fund investments (for some reason media paid a ton of attention to Ackman’s gigantic JC Penney and Valeant failures) and it is a fact that hedge funds’ picks don’t beat the market 100% of the time, but their consensus picks have historically done very well and have outperformed the market after adjusting for risk.
Is Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) a marvelous stock to buy now? The smart money is taking a bearish view. The number of bullish hedge fund positions dropped by 2 recently. MLM was in 35 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2016. There were 37 hedge funds in our database with MLM positions at the end of the previous quarter. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren’t the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds’ perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That’s why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as Alcoa Inc (NYSE:AA), Centene Corp (NYSE:CNC), and Tractor Supply Company (NASDAQ:TSCO) to gather more data points.
Follow Martin Marietta Materials Inc (NYSE:MLM)
Follow Martin Marietta Materials Inc (NYSE:MLM)
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Keeping this in mind, we’re going to take a glance at the latest action surrounding Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM).
What have hedge funds been doing with Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)?
Heading into the fourth quarter of 2016, a total of 35 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a decrease of 5% from the second quarter of 2016. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions).
When looking at the institutional investors followed by Insider Monkey, Tom Russo’s Gardner Russo & Gardner has the largest position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM), worth close to $370.6 million and amounting to 3.1% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Egerton Capital Limited, led by John Armitage, holding a $180.1 million position; the fund has 2% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other members of the smart money that are bullish encompass Robert Joseph Caruso’s Select Equity Group, Ken Heebner’s Capital Growth Management and Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management.
