Barclays Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) Stock Price

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) had its price objective cut by research analysts at Barclays from $645.00 to $600.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the construction company’s stock. Barclays‘s price target would indicate a potential upside of 13.75% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. HSBC raised 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $730.00 target price for the company. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $701.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Martin Marietta Materials has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $639.43.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

Shares of MLM opened at $527.47 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $32.24 billion, a PE ratio of 16.44, a PEG ratio of 4.62 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 2.34. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $535.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $549.52. Martin Marietta Materials has a 52 week low of $482.72 and a 52 week high of $633.23.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The construction company reported $4.79 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.62 by $0.17. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 30.47% and a return on equity of 12.53%. Research analysts expect that Martin Marietta Materials will post 17.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Martin Marietta Materials

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC increased its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 15.5% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC now owns 25,242 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $13,037,000 after buying an additional 3,384 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 18.5% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 8,220 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $4,914,000 after acquiring an additional 1,286 shares during the last quarter. RMR Wealth Builders increased its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 431.3% during the fourth quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 2,391 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,235,000 after acquiring an additional 1,941 shares during the period. Kovack Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Martin Marietta Materials during the third quarter worth $734,000. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 2,448.1% in the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,376 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $741,000 after purchasing an additional 1,322 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

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.