Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) Price Target to $585.00

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) had its price target trimmed by Wells Fargo & Company from $609.00 to $585.00 in a report issued on Monday, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the construction company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on MLM. 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 lowered shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Berenberg Bank set a $556.00 target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Raymond James Financial set a $660.00 target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $664.00 to $639.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $666.12.

Martin Marietta Materials Price Performance

MLM opened at $490.82 on Monday. Martin Marietta Materials has a 52-week low of $488.74 and a 52-week high of $710.97. The company has a 50 day moving average of $531.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $569.25. The company has a market cap of $29.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The construction company reported $5.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.76 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 36.73% and a return on equity of 9.49%. Martin Marietta Materials’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.43 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Martin Marietta Materials will post 18.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be paid a $0.84 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 1st. This is a positive change from Martin Marietta Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.26%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Martin Marietta Materials

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MLM. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,706,134,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 51.8% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,448,928 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,524,853,000 after purchasing an additional 836,120 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,399,779 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,412,702,000 after purchasing an additional 21,310 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,553,364 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $963,406,000 after purchasing an additional 10,743 shares during the period. Finally, King Luther Capital Management Corp increased its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 690,128 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $429,715,000 after purchasing an additional 5,025 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Martin Marietta Materials Company Profile

Martin Marietta Materials, Inc is a U.S.-based supplier of construction aggregates and other building materials. The company produces crushed stone, sand and gravel used in infrastructure, commercial, residential and industrial construction projects.

Its products and services also include cement, ready-mixed concrete, asphalt and paving materials. Martin Marietta serves customers involved in roads, bridges, airports, buildings and other essential infrastructure, with operations concentrated across several regions of the United States.

The company was established in 1993 as an independent, publicly traded materials business formed from the construction materials operations of Martin Marietta Corporation.