Loop Capital Lowers Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) Price Target to $615.00

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) had its price target lowered by Loop Capital from $645.00 to $615.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the construction company’s stock.

MLM has been the topic of several other reports. Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on Martin Marietta Materials in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $559.00 price objective on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Martin Marietta Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $657.00 to $622.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. BNP Paribas cut shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $563.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Martin Marietta Materials has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $626.50.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of MLM stock opened at $484.47 on Tuesday. Martin Marietta Materials has a 1-year low of $448.50 and a 1-year high of $633.23. The company has a market cap of $29.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.99, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.50 and a quick ratio of 1.40. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $504.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $538.26.

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

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.79 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.77%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new position in Martin Marietta Materials in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Martin Marietta Materials during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Martin Marietta Materials during the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 91.9% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 71 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. 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.