Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) Coverage Initiated at Royal Bank Of Canada

Equities researchers at Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage set a “sector perform” rating and a $515.00 price target on the construction company’s stock. Royal Bank Of Canada’s target price points to a potential downside of 4.85% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. UBS Group raised shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $548.00 to $634.00 in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Wall Street Zen lowered Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $561.00 to $576.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Loop Capital reduced their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $645.00 to $615.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Raymond James Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $600.00 to $597.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $603.86.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

Shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock opened at $541.25 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 2.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $532.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $521.58. Martin Marietta Materials has a 52 week low of $441.95 and a 52 week high of $633.23. The company has a market capitalization of $32.63 billion, a PE ratio of 31.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.92 and a beta of 0.89.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The construction company reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.88 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.36 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 16.07% and a return on equity of 12.01%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.93 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Martin Marietta Materials will post 19.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 2.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,342,358 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $3,510,602,000 after acquiring an additional 168,175 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 10.1% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,944,694 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,407,947,000 after purchasing an additional 268,928 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 6.6% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,940,423 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $927,775,000 after buying an additional 120,679 shares during the last quarter. Amundi raised its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 9.2% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 1,706,416 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $827,345,000 after buying an additional 144,270 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,472,411 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $758,499,000 after buying an additional 32,082 shares during the period. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.