Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) Stock Rating Upgraded by Hsbc Global Res

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) was upgraded by research analysts at Hsbc Global Res from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Loop Capital boosted their price target 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. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $610.00 to $657.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $515.00 to $640.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, HSBC upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $690.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $655.77.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

MLM stock opened at $557.29 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $578.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $555.97. Martin Marietta Materials has a 52 week low of $478.53 and a 52 week high of $633.23. The stock has a market cap of $34.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.37, a P/E/G ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 2.34.

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

Institutional Trading of Martin Marietta Materials

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 534,801 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $295,397,000 after purchasing an additional 9,908 shares in the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp lifted its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 10,021 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $5,394,000 after acquiring an additional 741 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 89.3% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 8,008 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $4,310,000 after purchasing an additional 3,778 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in Martin Marietta Materials during the 3rd quarter worth about $197,000. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 18.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 8,220 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $4,914,000 after purchasing an additional 1,286 shares during the period. 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.