Morgan Stanley Cuts Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) Price Target to $622.00

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) had its price objective decreased by Morgan Stanley from $657.00 to $622.00 in a report issued on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the construction company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on MLM. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $650.00 to $635.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $515.00 to $640.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. BNP Paribas downgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Loop Capital lifted their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Martin Marietta Materials presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $653.08.

Martin Marietta Materials Price Performance

MLM opened at $525.77 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $580.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $554.94. Martin Marietta Materials has a 12-month low of $479.67 and a 12-month high of $633.23. The firm has a market cap of $32.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.38, a PEG ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 2.34, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

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

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.60%. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.85%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Martin Marietta Materials

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of MLM. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 411.1% during the second quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 46 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Asset Dedication LLC increased its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 1,300.0% during the third quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 56 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the period. First Personal Financial Services acquired a new position in Martin Marietta Materials during the third quarter worth approximately $33,000. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials in the second quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the third quarter valued at approximately $49,000. 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.