StockNews.com Downgrades Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) to Sell

StockNews.com lowered shares of Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Barclays dropped their price objective 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. Stephens dropped their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $730.00 price objective for the company. Finally, 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Martin Marietta Materials currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $639.43.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Down 3.2 %

Shares of MLM stock opened at $489.94 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $530.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $547.08. Martin Marietta Materials has a twelve month low of $482.72 and a twelve month high of $633.23. The company has a market capitalization of $29.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.15, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.91. 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 (NYSE:MLM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The construction company reported $4.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.62 by $0.17. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 30.54% and a return on equity of 12.11%. Research analysts forecast that Martin Marietta Materials will post 19.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.77%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Martin Marietta Materials

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MLM. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 54,277.3% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 918,432 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $474,370,000 after acquiring an additional 916,743 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 704,460 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Martin Marietta Materials in the 4th quarter worth approximately $306,863,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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 acquiring an additional 506,705 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Martin Marietta Materials in the 4th quarter worth approximately $196,374,000. 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.