Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) Price Target Lowered to $622.00 at Morgan Stanley

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) had its target price reduced by Morgan Stanley from $657.00 to $622.00 in a report issued on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the construction company’s stock.

Several other analysts have also commented on MLM. HSBC upgraded 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. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. StockNews.com raised shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $730.00 price target on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $515.00 to $640.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Martin Marietta Materials presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $653.08.

Martin Marietta Materials Price Performance

NYSE:MLM opened at $544.78 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 2.34. The company has a 50-day moving average of $579.74 and a 200-day moving average of $555.47. Martin Marietta Materials has a 52 week low of $479.67 and a 52 week high of $633.23. The company has a market capitalization of $33.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.98, a PEG ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.89.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The construction company reported $5.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.41 by ($0.50). Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 30.47% and a return on equity of 12.53%. The company 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 firm posted $6.94 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Martin Marietta Materials will post 17.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.85%.

Institutional Trading of Martin Marietta Materials

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MLM. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 411.1% in the 2nd quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 46 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Asset Dedication LLC boosted its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 1,300.0% in the third quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 56 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. First Personal Financial Services bought a new position in Martin Marietta Materials in the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials during the 2nd quarter worth $43,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials during the 3rd quarter valued at $49,000. 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.