Citigroup Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) Stock Price

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) had its price objective trimmed by Citigroup from $701.00 to $600.00 in a research report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the construction company’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on MLM. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 1st. BNP Paribas cut shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. HSBC raised Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $690.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $515.00 to $640.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Loop Capital boosted their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $649.54.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Down 0.1 %

MLM stock opened at $516.24 on Monday. Martin Marietta Materials has a twelve month low of $485.31 and a twelve month high of $633.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 2.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market cap of $31.55 billion, a PE ratio of 16.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.91. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $569.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $552.12.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The construction company reported $5.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.41 by ($0.50). The firm had revenue of $1.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 30.47% and a return on equity of 12.53%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $6.94 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Martin Marietta Materials will post 17.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Martin Marietta Materials

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 704,460 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 23.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,678,425 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,441,663,000 after acquiring an additional 506,705 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 15.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,515,441 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,353,936,000 after purchasing an additional 334,605 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 7,608.2% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 181,373 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $97,624,000 after purchasing an additional 179,020 shares during the period. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 54.2% in the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 467,782 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $251,784,000 after purchasing an additional 164,503 shares during the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.