Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) Given Average Recommendation of “Buy” by Analysts

Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the sixteen ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $639.43.

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $515.00 to $640.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Hsbc Global Res raised Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. StockNews.com lowered Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Stephens decreased their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective 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.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

NYSE MLM opened at $489.72 on Friday. Martin Marietta Materials has a 52-week low of $482.72 and a 52-week high of $633.23. The company has a fifty day moving average of $528.99 and a 200-day moving average of $546.80. The company has a market capitalization of $29.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.15, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The construction company reported $4.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.62 by $0.17. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 12.11% and a net margin of 30.54%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Martin Marietta Materials will post 19.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.79 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.77%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MLM. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 916,743 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 76.2% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,628,701 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $876,648,000 after buying an additional 704,460 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the 4th quarter worth about $306,863,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 23.3% during 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 acquiring an additional 506,705 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials during the fourth quarter worth 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.