Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) Lifted to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. HSBC upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a reduce rating to a hold rating and upped their target price for the company from $376.00 to $543.00 in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $621.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $635.00 to $708.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a neutral rating and issued a $600.00 price target (up previously from $530.00) on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $610.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $588.69.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of MLM opened at $590.68 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $36.41 billion, a PE ratio of 17.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.95. Martin Marietta Materials has a 52-week low of $384.61 and a 52-week high of $626.67. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $598.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $521.59. The company has a quick ratio of 2.50, a current ratio of 3.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The construction company reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.88 by $0.05. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 14.74% and a net margin of 31.35%. The company had revenue of $1.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.16 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Martin Marietta Materials will post 21.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Monday, March 4th were issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.77%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Martin Marietta Materials news, EVP Roselyn R. Bar sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $603.29, for a total transaction of $6,032,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 59,970 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,179,301.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Roselyn R. Bar sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $603.29, for a total value of $6,032,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 59,970 shares in the company, valued at $36,179,301.30. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Sue W. Cole sold 1,724 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $543.48, for a total transaction of $936,959.52. Following the transaction, the director now owns 19,793 shares in the company, valued at $10,757,099.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 26,724 shares of company stock worth $16,033,760. 0.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Martin Marietta Materials

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Schear Investment Advisers LLC grew its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 1,647 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $822,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,170 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $584,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the period. Independence Bank of Kentucky raised its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 16.9% in the fourth quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 152 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 460 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $228,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Spire Wealth Management boosted its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 810 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $497,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Martin Marietta Materials

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.