Brokerages Set Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) PT at $619.36

Shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the fourteen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $619.36.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Loop Capital lowered their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $630.00 to $615.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $650.00 to $635.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com lowered Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $650.00 to $630.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $560.00 to $515.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Martin Marietta Materials

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 664 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $360,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 2,126 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. raised its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 13.6% during the 2nd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 167 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $90,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. TFG Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. TFG Advisers LLC now owns 555 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $300,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co raised its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co now owns 680 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $368,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MLM opened at $562.79 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.86 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $535.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $557.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.69 billion, a PE ratio of 16.68, a P/E/G ratio of 3.68 and a beta of 0.91. Martin Marietta Materials has a 1 year low of $389.90 and a 1 year high of $626.67.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The construction company reported $4.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.36 by ($0.60). The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.83 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 30.80%. The business’s revenue was down 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Martin Marietta Materials will post 19.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. This is a boost from Martin Marietta Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

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.