Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) Given Average Recommendation of “Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) have received a consensus rating of “Buy” from the sixteen research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, fourteen have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $639.43.

MLM has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. HSBC upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $690.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Stephens cut their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $645.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $657.00 to $622.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $563.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

MLM stock opened at $489.72 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $528.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $546.80. The company has a current ratio of 2.50, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Martin Marietta Materials has a 12-month low of $482.72 and a 12-month high of $633.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.93 billion, a PE ratio of 15.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.91.

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

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Martin Marietta Materials’s payout ratio is 9.77%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Martin Marietta Materials

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MLM. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,174,183 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $3,705,466,000 after acquiring an additional 36,531 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 23.3% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,678,425 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,441,663,000 after purchasing an additional 506,705 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 15.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,515,441 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,353,936,000 after purchasing an additional 334,605 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,819,744 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $939,898,000 after buying an additional 191,043 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,562,146 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $808,005,000 after buying an additional 148,065 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.