Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) Now Covered by Analysts at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada began coverage on shares of Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) in a research note published on Monday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm issued a sector perform rating and a $515.00 price objective on the construction company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $559.00 to $609.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Raymond James cut their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $600.00 to $597.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. 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 research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $603.86.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

MLM stock opened at $542.40 on Monday. Martin Marietta Materials has a 1 year low of $441.95 and a 1 year high of $633.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.78, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 2.50. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $531.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $521.44.

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

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.58%. Martin Marietta Materials’s payout ratio is presently 18.20%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Martin Marietta Materials

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 54,277.3% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 918,432 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $474,370,000 after acquiring an additional 916,743 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 58,570.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 697,592 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $333,540,000 after purchasing an additional 696,403 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials during the 4th quarter worth approximately $306,863,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials in the 4th quarter valued at $196,374,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 1,880.3% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 369,382 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $176,613,000 after buying an additional 350,729 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.