Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) Cut to “Sell” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note released on Thursday morning.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on MLM. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $645.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $730.00 target price on the stock. Wolfe Research upgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $563.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. 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 report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $701.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Martin Marietta Materials presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $639.43.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Down 3.0 %

Martin Marietta Materials stock opened at $505.47 on Thursday. Martin Marietta Materials has a 52 week low of $482.72 and a 52 week high of $633.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 2.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The firm has a market cap of $30.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.69 and a beta of 0.91. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $531.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $547.49.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.62 by $0.17. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 12.11% and a net margin of 30.54%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Martin Marietta Materials will post 19.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.63%. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.77%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Martin Marietta Materials

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,174,183 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $3,705,466,000 after purchasing an additional 36,531 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 23.3% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,678,425 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,441,663,000 after buying an additional 506,705 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 334,605 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,819,744 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $939,898,000 after acquiring an additional 191,043 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi grew its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,562,146 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $808,005,000 after acquiring an additional 148,065 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.