Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) Receives Consensus “Buy Moderate” Recommendation From Brokerages

Shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM – Get Rating) have earned an average recommendation of “moderate buy” from the twelve rating companies that currently cover the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight gave the company a buy recommendation. The 12-month average price target among brokers who have rated the stock over the past year is $445.80.

Several brokerages have published reports on MLM. TheStreet upgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “b” to a “c+” rating in a Tuesday, May 10 report. StockNews.com upgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a Wednesday, June 15 report. Morgan Stanley lowered its price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $470.00 to $441.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a Monday, April 18 report. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lowered its target price for the company from $420.00 to $410.00 in a Friday 3 June.

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently been buying and selling stocks. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 38,963 shares of the construction company worth $17,164,000 after acquiring 248 additional shares last quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA increased its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 60.6% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA now owns 36,843 shares in the construction company worth $12,589,000 after acquiring an additional 13,903 shares last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 9.2% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 10,497 shares of the construction company worth $3,586,000 after acquiring 880 additional shares last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 13,016 shares of the construction company worth $5,734,000 after acquiring 293 more shares last quarter. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC increased its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 208.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 5,248 shares of the construction company worth $1,793,000 after acquiring 3,548 additional shares in the last quarter. 93.49% of the shares are currently held by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Martin Marietta Materials stock opened Wednesday at $302.55. The company has a debt ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 1.69. Martin Marietta Materials has a 12-month low of $299.88 and a 12-month high of $446.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.87 billion, a PE ratio of 28.76, a price-to-growth earnings ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $342.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $377.64.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM – Get Rating) last released its quarterly results on Tuesday, May 3. The construction company reported EPS of $0.39 for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.71 per ($0.32). Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 11.42% and a net margin of 11.63%. The company posted revenue of $1.23 billion for the quarter, versus $1.13 billion for analysts. In the same quarter a year earlier, the company posted earnings per share of $1.04. The company’s revenue for the quarter increased by 25.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equity research analysts expect Martin Marietta Materials to post EPS of 13.47 for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 30. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 1 will receive a dividend of $0.61. This represents an annualized dividend of $2.44 and a dividend yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 31. Martin Marietta Materials’ dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.19%.

Martin Marietta Materials Company Profile (Get a rating)

Martin Marietta Materials, Inc., a natural resource-based building materials company, supplies aggregates and heavy building materials to the construction industry in the United States and around the world. 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 infrastructure projects and the non-residential and residential construction markets, as well as the railroad, agricultural, utility and environmental industries.

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