Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) Rating Lowered to Neutral at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) from an overweight rating to a neutral rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has $560.00 price objective on the construction company’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $640.00.

Several other analysts have also commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus assumed coverage on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $559.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com cut Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $701.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $657.00 to $622.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Raymond James lowered their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Martin Marietta Materials has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $628.64.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of MLM stock opened at $477.49 on Wednesday. Martin Marietta Materials has a twelve month low of $448.50 and a twelve month high of $633.23. The company has a current ratio of 2.50, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The business’s 50 day moving average is $511.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $539.18. The company has a market capitalization of $29.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.89.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The construction company reported $4.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.62 by $0.17. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 12.11% and a net margin of 30.54%. Equities analysts forecast that Martin Marietta Materials will post 19.53 EPS for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.79 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Donald A. Mccunniff sold 1,332 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $475.00, for a total transaction of $632,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,673,425. This trade represents a 27.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Michael J. Petro purchased 550 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $454.37 per share, for a total transaction of $249,903.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,082,514.45. This represents a 6.52 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.68% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Martin Marietta Materials

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC lifted its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 15.5% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC now owns 25,242 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $13,037,000 after purchasing an additional 3,384 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 18.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 8,220 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $4,914,000 after buying an additional 1,286 shares during the period. RMR Wealth Builders boosted its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 431.3% in the 4th quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 2,391 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,235,000 after buying an additional 1,941 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 2,448.1% during the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,376 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $741,000 after acquiring an additional 1,322 shares during the period. Finally, InTrack Investment Management Inc boosted its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 33.9% in the fourth quarter. InTrack Investment Management Inc now owns 3,446 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,784,000 after acquiring an additional 872 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Martin Marietta Materials Company 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.