Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report issued on Wednesday.

MLM has been the topic of several other reports. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $595.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective 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. Raymond James decreased their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $640.00 to $630.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, HSBC raised shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $690.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Martin Marietta Materials has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $648.71.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Down 0.3 %

NYSE MLM traded down $1.66 on Wednesday, reaching $540.51. The stock had a trading volume of 309,348 shares, compared to its average volume of 355,547. The company has a market capitalization of $33.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.84, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.91. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $548.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $551.33. 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 $490.05 and a 1 year high of $633.23.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last announced its quarterly 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 quarter last year, the company earned $6.94 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Martin Marietta Materials will post 17.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 76.2% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,628,701 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $876,648,000 after purchasing an additional 704,460 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 23.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,678,425 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,441,663,000 after buying an additional 506,705 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 15.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,515,441 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,353,936,000 after buying an additional 334,605 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 7,608.2% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 181,373 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $97,624,000 after acquiring an additional 179,020 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 54.2% during the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 467,782 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $251,784,000 after purchasing an additional 164,503 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.