Brokerages Set Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) PT at $634.36

Shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, thirteen have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $628.64.

MLM has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. HSBC raised 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. Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on Martin Marietta Materials in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $559.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $657.00 to $622.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Martin Marietta Materials news, EVP Donald A. Mccunniff sold 1,332 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $475.00, for a total transaction of $632,700.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,523 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,673,425. This represents a 27.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Michael J. Petro purchased 550 shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were bought at an average price of $454.37 per share, with a total value of $249,903.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,985 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,082,514.45. This trade represents a 6.52 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.68% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials during the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 91.9% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 71 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Down 1.3 %

Martin Marietta Materials stock opened at $477.49 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $29.11 billion, a PE ratio of 14.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 2.50. Martin Marietta Materials has a fifty-two week low of $448.50 and a fifty-two week high of $633.23. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $511.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $539.32.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The construction company reported $4.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.62 by $0.17. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 30.54% and a return on equity of 12.11%. Research analysts expect that Martin Marietta Materials will post 19.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.77%.

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.