Morgan Stanley Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) Stock Price

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) had its price objective dropped by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $657.00 to $622.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the construction company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 16.12% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on MLM. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a report on Thursday, November 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $730.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. HSBC upgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $690.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. BNP Paribas lowered Martin Marietta Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $515.00 to $640.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $653.08.

Martin Marietta Materials Price Performance

MLM stock opened at $535.64 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $580.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $555.15. Martin Marietta Materials has a 52-week low of $479.67 and a 52-week high of $633.23. The company has a market capitalization of $32.74 billion, a PE ratio of 16.69, a P/E/G ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 2.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The construction company reported $5.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.41 by ($0.50). The company had revenue of $1.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 30.47% and a return on equity of 12.53%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $6.94 EPS. Analysts predict that Martin Marietta Materials will post 17.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Martin Marietta Materials

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MLM. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 18.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 8,220 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $4,914,000 after purchasing an additional 1,286 shares in the last quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Martin Marietta Materials in the third quarter worth approximately $734,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 2,448.1% during the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,376 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $741,000 after acquiring an additional 1,322 shares in the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 8.5% in the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 12,936 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $6,963,000 after acquiring an additional 1,014 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 2.6% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 465,703 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $252,318,000 after acquiring an additional 11,749 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

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.