Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) Upgraded to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Wednesday.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on MLM. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Martin Marietta Materials in a research report on Monday, January 8th. They set an overweight rating and a $595.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $635.00 to $708.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $505.00 to $555.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. HSBC raised Martin Marietta Materials from a reduce rating to a hold rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $376.00 to $543.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Stephens boosted their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $575.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $588.69.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of MLM opened at $590.86 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $36.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a current ratio of 3.35, a quick ratio of 2.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $596.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $520.00. Martin Marietta Materials has a 12-month low of $361.33 and a 12-month high of $626.67.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The construction company reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.88 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 15.77% and a net margin of 17.25%. Martin Marietta Materials’s revenue was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.16 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Martin Marietta Materials will post 21.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 4th were paid a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Martin Marietta Materials

In other news, Director Sue W. Cole sold 1,724 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $543.48, for a total transaction of $936,959.52. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 19,793 shares in the company, valued at $10,757,099.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Sue W. Cole sold 1,724 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $543.48, for a total transaction of $936,959.52. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 19,793 shares in the company, valued at $10,757,099.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Roselyn R. Bar sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $603.29, for a total value of $6,032,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 59,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,179,301.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 26,724 shares of company stock worth $16,033,760. 0.59% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Schear Investment Advisers LLC grew its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 1,647 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $822,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,170 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $584,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the period. Independence Bank of Kentucky grew its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 16.9% during the fourth quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 152 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 460 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $228,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Finally, Spire Wealth Management grew its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 2.8% during the first quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 810 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $497,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.