Raymond James Cuts Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) Price Target to $630.00

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) had its price target lowered by Raymond James from $640.00 to $630.00 in a research report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the construction company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on MLM. HSBC upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $690.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $515.00 to $640.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Wolfe Research upgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $563.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $657.00 to $622.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $648.71.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

Shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock opened at $543.33 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 2.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Martin Marietta Materials has a 52 week low of $490.05 and a 52 week high of $633.23. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $555.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $550.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.91.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The construction company reported $5.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $6.41 by ($0.50). The firm had revenue of $1.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 30.47% and a return on equity of 12.53%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $6.94 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Martin Marietta Materials will post 17.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. Martin Marietta Materials’s payout ratio is currently 9.85%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Martin Marietta Materials

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 506,705 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 15.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,515,441 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,353,936,000 after purchasing an additional 334,605 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake 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 valued at $876,648,000 after purchasing an additional 704,460 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 534,801 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $295,397,000 after purchasing an additional 9,908 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 54.2% during the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 467,782 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $251,784,000 after purchasing an additional 164,503 shares during the last quarter. 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.