Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) Downgraded to “Sell” Rating by StockNews.com

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

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on MLM. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Wolfe Research raised Martin Marietta Materials from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $563.00 target price on the stock in a research note 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 research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Citigroup cut their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $701.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $639.43.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

NYSE MLM opened at $505.47 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $531.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $547.49. Martin Marietta Materials has a fifty-two week low of $482.72 and a fifty-two week high of $633.23. The company has a market cap of $30.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.63, a P/E/G ratio of 4.69 and a beta of 0.91. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The construction company reported $4.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.62 by $0.17. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 30.54% and a return on equity of 12.11%. 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.63%. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.77%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Martin Marietta Materials

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 54,277.3% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 918,432 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $474,370,000 after buying an additional 916,743 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 76.2% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the 4th quarter valued at $306,863,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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 worth $1,441,663,000 after acquiring an additional 506,705 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Martin Marietta Materials in the fourth quarter valued at about $196,374,000. 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.