Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) Cut to “Sell” at StockNews.com

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

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on MLM. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $657.00 to $622.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $563.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Stephens lowered their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $515.00 to $640.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $639.43.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

Shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock opened at $489.94 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $530.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $547.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.15, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.91. Martin Marietta Materials has a 12 month low of $482.72 and a 12 month high of $633.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.50 and a quick ratio of 1.40.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The construction company reported $4.79 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.62 by $0.17. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 30.54% and a return on equity of 12.11%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Martin Marietta Materials will post 19.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a $0.79 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.64%. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.77%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Martin Marietta Materials

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MLM. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 54,277.3% in the 4th 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 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the 4th quarter worth about $306,863,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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 buying an additional 506,705 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the 4th quarter worth about $196,374,000. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.