Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) Raised to “Buy” at HSBC

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) was upgraded by stock analysts at HSBC from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage presently has a $690.00 target price on the construction company’s stock. HSBC’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 23.81% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on MLM. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $730.00 target price on the stock. Loop Capital raised their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Barclays lifted their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $595.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $515.00 to $640.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $655.77.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

Shares of MLM stock opened at $557.29 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $578.63 and its 200 day moving average is $555.97. Martin Marietta Materials has a one year low of $478.53 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 company has a market capitalization of $34.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.89.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The construction company reported $5.91 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $1.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $6.94 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Martin Marietta Materials will post 17.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Martin Marietta Materials

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Kovack Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials during the third quarter worth about $734,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 2,448.1% in the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,376 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $741,000 after purchasing an additional 1,322 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 12,936 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $6,963,000 after buying an additional 1,014 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 2.6% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 465,703 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $252,318,000 after buying an additional 11,749 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 2.2% during the third quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC now owns 193,588 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $104,199,000 after buying an additional 4,080 shares during the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Martin Marietta Materials Company Profile

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.