Raymond James Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) Stock Price

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) had its target price lowered by Raymond James from $640.00 to $630.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the construction company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on MLM. BNP Paribas lowered Martin Marietta Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $515.00 to $640.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. 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 research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $650.00 to $635.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, HSBC raised Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $690.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Martin Marietta Materials currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $648.71.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

MLM stock opened at $530.94 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $557.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $550.78. Martin Marietta Materials has a 12 month low of $489.90 and a 12 month high of $633.23. The company has a market capitalization of $32.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 2.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last posted its 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). Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 12.53% and a net margin of 30.47%. The business had revenue of $1.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $6.94 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Martin Marietta Materials will post 17.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.85%.

Institutional Trading of Martin Marietta Materials

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC raised its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 15.5% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC now owns 25,242 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $13,037,000 after purchasing an additional 3,384 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 18.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 8,220 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $4,914,000 after buying an additional 1,286 shares in the last quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $734,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 12,936 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $6,963,000 after buying an additional 1,014 shares in the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.