Morgan Stanley Raises Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) Price Target to $657.00

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) had its target price lifted by Morgan Stanley from $610.00 to $657.00 in a report released on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the construction company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $658.00 to $646.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 12th. StockNews.com raised shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $650.00 to $630.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Truist Financial cut their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $700.00 to $670.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $630.00 to $615.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Martin Marietta Materials has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $629.82.

Martin Marietta Materials Price Performance

Shares of MLM opened at $523.99 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $546.13 and a two-hundred day moving average of $570.48. The company has a quick ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 3.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. Martin Marietta Materials has a twelve month low of $389.90 and a twelve month high of $626.67. The company has a market cap of $32.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.91.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The construction company reported $4.76 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.36 by ($0.60). Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 14.74% and a net margin of 31.35%. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.83 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.60 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Martin Marietta Materials will post 22.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be paid a $0.79 dividend. This is an increase from Martin Marietta Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.60%. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 664 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $360,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. grew its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 13.6% during the second quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 167 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $90,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. TFG Advisers LLC grew its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 3.7% during the second quarter. TFG Advisers LLC now owns 555 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $300,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co increased its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 3.0% in the second quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co now owns 680 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $368,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,170 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $584,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the period. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.