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

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

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $664.00 to $639.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Oppenheimer started coverage on Martin Marietta Materials in a report on Thursday, May 28th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Berenberg Bank set a $556.00 price objective on Martin Marietta Materials and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Martin Marietta Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $680.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Martin Marietta Materials currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $666.12.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Up 2.2%

MLM opened at $501.20 on Monday. Martin Marietta Materials has a 52 week low of $488.74 and a 52 week high of $710.97. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $534.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $571.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. The company has a market cap of $30.11 billion, a PE ratio of 12.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.10.

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

Martin Marietta Materials Increases Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of Martin Marietta Materials

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Junto Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Martin Marietta Materials in the second quarter valued at approximately $71,249,000. Blue Edge Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the second quarter worth $452,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 19.0% in the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 12,292 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $7,089,000 after acquiring an additional 1,966 shares during the period. National Pension Service lifted its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 6.4% during the 2nd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 95,221 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $54,914,000 after acquiring an additional 5,739 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SailingStone Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 203.8% during the 2nd quarter. SailingStone Capital Partners LLC now owns 23,147 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $13,349,000 after purchasing an additional 15,527 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.