Analysts Set Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) Target Price at $653.08

Shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $649.54.

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $701.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. HSBC raised Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $690.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $515.00 to $640.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Loop Capital lifted their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st.

Martin Marietta Materials Price Performance

MLM stock opened at $516.24 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $569.75 and a 200-day moving average of $552.12. The company has a market cap of $31.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.09, a PEG ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.91. 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 12-month low of $485.31 and a 12-month high of $633.23.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $1.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 12.53% and a net margin of 30.47%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $6.94 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Martin Marietta Materials will post 17.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.61%. Martin Marietta Materials’s payout ratio is currently 9.85%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Martin Marietta Materials

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,918 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,564,000 after acquiring an additional 302 shares in the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the 4th quarter worth about $480,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,189 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $614,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 23.3% during the third 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 1.9% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 534,801 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $295,397,000 after purchasing an additional 9,908 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

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.