Brokerages Set Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) PT at $653.08

Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the sixteen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $653.08.

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MLM shares. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $657.00 to $622.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $730.00 price target on the stock. BNP Paribas cut Martin Marietta Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, HSBC raised Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $690.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Martin Marietta Materials

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MLM. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 18.5% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 8,220 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $4,914,000 after purchasing an additional 1,286 shares during the last quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Martin Marietta Materials in the 3rd quarter valued at $734,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 2,448.1% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,376 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $741,000 after buying an additional 1,322 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 12,936 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $6,963,000 after buying an additional 1,014 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI boosted its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 158.2% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 43,952 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $23,657,000 after acquiring an additional 26,929 shares during the period. 95.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Martin Marietta Materials Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MLM opened at $516.67 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $570.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $552.38. The firm has a market cap of $31.58 billion, a PE 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. Martin Marietta Materials has a 1-year low of $482.01 and a 1-year high of $633.23.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 12.53% and a net margin of 30.47%. The firm had revenue of $1.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $6.94 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Martin Marietta Materials will post 17.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid 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 (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.