Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) Receives $648.71 Average PT from Analysts

Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus rating of "Buy" from the sixteen research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $648.71.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MLM. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. BNP Paribas lowered Martin Marietta Materials from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Raymond James decreased their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $640.00 to $630.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group initiated 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 target on the stock. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $701.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Martin Marietta Materials

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 23.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,678,425 shares of the construction company's stock worth $1,441,663,000 after buying an additional 506,705 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 15.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,515,441 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $1,353,936,000 after purchasing an additional 334,605 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 76.2% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,628,701 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $876,648,000 after buying an additional 704,460 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 1.9% during 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. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 54.2% during the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 467,782 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $251,784,000 after purchasing an additional 164,503 shares during the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE MLM traded down $2.03 during trading on Monday, hitting $546.53. The company had a trading volume of 205,047 shares, compared to its average volume of 351,513. Martin Marietta Materials has a one year low of $490.05 and a one year high of $633.23. The company's fifty day moving average is $550.81 and its 200-day moving average is $551.56. The company has a market cap of $33.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 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 (NYSE:MLM - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The construction company reported $5.91 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $6.94 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Martin Marietta Materials will post 17.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

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

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.