Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) Receives $644.46 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $644.46.

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $595.00 to $645.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $650.00 to $635.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com raised Martin Marietta Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $610.00 to $657.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on Martin Marietta Materials in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $730.00 price objective for the company.

Institutional Trading of Martin Marietta Materials

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC boosted 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 valued at $1,353,936,000 after buying an additional 334,605 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 704,460 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 623,681 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $337,903,000 after purchasing an additional 12,759 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 1.9% in 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 last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 54.2% in the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 467,782 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $251,784,000 after buying an additional 164,503 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

Shares of MLM opened at $563.45 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $577.12 and a 200-day moving average of $555.93. The company has a market cap of $34.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 2.34. Martin Marietta Materials has a 1 year low of $468.48 and a 1 year high of $633.23.

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

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.85%.

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.