Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eleven have assigned a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $599.69.

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research upgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $563.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $645.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Martin Marietta Materials from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $640.00 to $560.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $670.00 to $610.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th.

Insider Activity at Martin Marietta Materials

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 76.2% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,628,701 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $876,648,000 after acquiring an additional 704,460 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in Martin Marietta Materials during the 3rd quarter worth $197,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position 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 last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,918 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,564,000 after buying an additional 302 shares during the period. Finally, One Wealth Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the fourth quarter valued at about $226,000. Institutional investors own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

Shares of MLM stock opened at $536.04 on Wednesday. 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 $32.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.58, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $487.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $529.84. 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 (NYSE:MLM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The construction company reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.88 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.36 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 12.11% and a net margin of 30.54%. The business’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.93 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Martin Marietta Materials will post 19.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.59%. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.20%.

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.