Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) Rating Increased to Outperform at Wolfe Research

Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) from a peer perform rating to an outperform rating in a report published on Wednesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Wolfe Research currently has $563.00 price target on the construction company’s stock.

MLM has been the subject of several other research reports. HSBC upgraded 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. StockNews.com lowered Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 1st. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $657.00 to $622.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $515.00 to $640.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, UBS Group began coverage on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $730.00 price objective on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $643.36.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock opened at $517.31 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $566.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $551.64. Martin Marietta Materials has a 12-month low of $488.30 and a 12-month high of $633.23. The company has a current ratio of 2.34, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market cap of $31.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.12, a PEG ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.91.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The construction company reported $5.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.41 by ($0.50). Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 12.53% and a net margin of 30.47%. The company had revenue of $1.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $6.94 earnings per share. Martin Marietta Materials’s quarterly revenue was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Martin Marietta Materials will post 17.58 EPS for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MLM. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 35,785 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $19,388,000 after acquiring an additional 1,637 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 5,856.3% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 953 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $516,000 after purchasing an additional 937 shares during the period. Choreo LLC purchased a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials during the 2nd quarter valued at $935,000. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC boosted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 7.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 556 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $301,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the period. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 19.5% during the second quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 12,521 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $6,784,000 after acquiring an additional 2,045 shares during the period. 95.04% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.