Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) Cut to “Sell” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report issued on Wednesday.

MLM has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Raymond James reduced their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $640.00 to $630.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group assumed coverage on Martin Marietta Materials in a report on Thursday, November 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $730.00 target price on the stock. Loop Capital increased their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. BNP Paribas downgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $701.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $648.71.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of MLM opened at $543.92 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $33.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.95, a P/E/G ratio of 4.57 and a beta of 0.91. Martin Marietta Materials has a one year low of $490.05 and a one year high of $633.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 2.34. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $546.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $551.21.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The construction company reported $5.91 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.41 by ($0.50). The business had revenue of $1.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 30.47% and a return on equity of 12.53%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $6.94 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Martin Marietta Materials will post 17.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.85%.

Institutional Trading of Martin Marietta Materials

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MLM. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC lifted its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 15.5% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC now owns 25,242 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $13,037,000 after acquiring an additional 3,384 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 18.5% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 8,220 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $4,914,000 after purchasing an additional 1,286 shares during the period. RMR Wealth Builders grew its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 431.3% during the fourth quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 2,391 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,235,000 after purchasing an additional 1,941 shares in the last quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the third quarter worth $734,000. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 2,448.1% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,376 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $741,000 after acquiring an additional 1,322 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.