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. The company also produces magnesia-based chemicals products that are used in industrial, agricultural, and environmental applications; and dolomitic lime primarily to customers for steel production and soil stabilization. Its chemical products are used in flame retardants, wastewater treatment, pulp and paper production, and other environmental applications. The company was founded in 1939 and is headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of research firms have weighed in on MLM. DA Davidson dropped their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $450.00 to $375.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 1st. StockNews.com raised shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $394.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, August 1st. TheStreet upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a "c+" rating to a "b-" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $406.00 to $384.00 in a report on Thursday, July 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $414.60.
Martin Marietta Materials Stock Up 1.7 %
Shares of NYSE:MLM traded up $6.29 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $371.17. 4,529 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 407,335. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 3.63 and a quick ratio of 2.53. Martin Marietta Materials has a twelve month low of $284.99 and a twelve month high of $446.46. The company has a market cap of $23.15 billion, a PE ratio of 28.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.88. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $324.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $351.87.
Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM - Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 28th. The construction company reported $3.96 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.09 by ($0.13). Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 11.28% and a net margin of 13.49%. The business had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.81 EPS. Martin Marietta Materials's revenue was up 19.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Martin Marietta Materials will post 13.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Martin Marietta Materials Increases Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 1st will be given a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 31st. This is a positive change from Martin Marietta Materials's previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. Martin Marietta Materials's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.11%.