Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) Stock Rating Upgraded by UBS Group

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) was upgraded by research analysts at UBS Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has a $634.00 price objective on the construction company’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $548.00. UBS Group’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 12.31% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on MLM. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $670.00 to $610.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $559.00 to $609.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James cut their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $600.00 to $597.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Barclays cut 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 note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Martin Marietta Materials from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $640.00 to $560.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Martin Marietta Materials presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $610.69.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Up 2.1%

Shares of MLM stock opened at $564.51 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $499.71 and a 200-day moving average of $528.22. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 2.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Martin Marietta Materials has a 12-month low of $441.95 and a 12-month high of $633.23. The company has a market capitalization of $34.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.46, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.89.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The construction company reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.88 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.36 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 30.54% and a return on equity of 12.11%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.93 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Martin Marietta Materials will post 19.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Martin Marietta Materials

In other news, EVP Donald A. Mccunniff sold 1,332 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $475.00, for a total value of $632,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,523 shares in the company, valued at $1,673,425. This represents a 27.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Michael J. Petro bought 550 shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $454.37 per share, with a total value of $249,903.50. Following the purchase, the senior vice president now owns 8,985 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,082,514.45. This represents a 6.52% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Martin Marietta Materials

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC grew its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 1,336 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $690,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the period. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,020 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $527,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 447 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $231,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. OLD National Bancorp IN boosted its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 483 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $249,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. Finally, Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 835 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $431,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. 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.