Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, thirteen have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $653.08.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on MLM shares. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $595.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $650.00 to $635.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $657.00 to $622.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th.

Institutional Trading of Martin Marietta Materials

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MLM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 23.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,678,425 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,441,663,000 after buying an additional 506,705 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 15.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,515,441 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,353,936,000 after purchasing an additional 334,605 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 76.2% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,628,701 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $876,648,000 after purchasing an additional 704,460 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 623,681 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $337,903,000 after purchasing an additional 12,759 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 534,801 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $295,397,000 after purchasing an additional 9,908 shares during the period. 95.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

NYSE:MLM opened at $516.50 on Thursday. Martin Marietta Materials has a twelve month low of $479.67 and a twelve month high of $633.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.10, a PEG ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 2.34, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $573.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $553.07.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The construction company reported $5.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $6.41 by ($0.50). The company had revenue of $1.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 12.53% and a net margin of 30.47%. Martin Marietta Materials’s quarterly revenue was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $6.94 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Martin Marietta Materials will post 17.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.85%.

About Martin Marietta Materials

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.