Brokerages Set Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) Price Target at $665.29

Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nineteen ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $665.8824.

MLM has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $700.00 to $680.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen lowered Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Weiss Ratings cut Martin Marietta Materials from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, August 17th. DA Davidson began coverage on Martin Marietta Materials in a research report on Monday, August 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $625.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wolfe Research set a $648.00 price target on Martin Marietta Materials in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th.

Martin Marietta Materials Price Performance

MLM stock opened at $531.11 on Tuesday. Martin Marietta Materials has a 1 year low of $522.19 and a 1 year high of $710.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.90 billion, a PE ratio of 13.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $562.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $591.20.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The construction company reported $5.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.76 by $0.24. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 36.73% and a return on equity of 9.49%. The firm had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $5.43 earnings per share. Martin Marietta Materials’s revenue was up 21.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Martin Marietta Materials will post 19.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be issued a $0.84 dividend. This is an increase from Martin Marietta Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 1st. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Martin Marietta Materials’s payout ratio is presently 8.16%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Martin Marietta Materials

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 72,704.3% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 51,073,705 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $29,454,206,000 after acquiring an additional 51,003,553 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials during the second quarter worth about $2,706,134,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,411,047,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 51.8% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,448,928 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,524,853,000 after purchasing an additional 836,120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials during the 4th quarter worth approximately $354,681,000. 95.04% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Martin Marietta Materials

Martin Marietta Materials, Inc (NYSE: MLM) is a leading producer of aggregates and heavy building materials serving the construction and infrastructure markets. The company operates quarries, sand and gravel pits, and other extraction sites to supply crushed stone, sand and gravel, and a range of value?added products for use in roads, bridges, commercial and residential construction, and other civil engineering projects.

In addition to its core aggregates business, Martin Marietta manufactures and sells asphalt, ready?mixed concrete and related materials and services.