Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Tuesday morning.

Several other research firms also recently commented on MLM. Raymond James lowered their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $640.00 to $630.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Wolfe Research raised Martin Marietta Materials from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $563.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Citigroup cut their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $701.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. BNP Paribas downgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $595.00 to $645.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Martin Marietta Materials presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $648.71.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:MLM opened at $548.53 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $552.29 and its 200 day moving average is $551.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 2.34 and a quick ratio of 1.24. Martin Marietta Materials has a 1 year low of $490.05 and a 1 year high of $633.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.09, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.91.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The construction company reported $5.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $6.41 by ($0.50). The company had revenue of $1.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 30.47% and a return on equity of 12.53%. The business’s revenue was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $6.94 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Martin Marietta Materials will post 17.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a $0.79 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.85%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Martin Marietta Materials

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MLM. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 6.3% in the second quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 3,759 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,037,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 14.8% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,079 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $3,294,000 after buying an additional 783 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 8.0% in the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 10,228 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $5,542,000 after acquiring an additional 755 shares during the period. DRW Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials in the 2nd quarter worth $365,000. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 77.1% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 2,353 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,275,000 after acquiring an additional 1,024 shares during the period. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.