Materion Co. (NYSE:MTRN) Short Interest Update

Materion Co. (NYSE:MTRN) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 271,200 shares, a decline of 18.1% from the March 15th total of 331,100 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 100,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.7 days. Currently, 1.3% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Materion Stock Down 1.5 %

MTRN opened at $125.44 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 2.78. Materion has a fifty-two week low of $92.23 and a fifty-two week high of $145.08. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $129.74 and its 200 day moving average is $118.75. The stock has a market cap of $2.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.39 and a beta of 1.14.

Materion (NYSE:MTRN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The basic materials company reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.38 by $0.03. Materion had a net margin of 5.75% and a return on equity of 13.49%. The firm had revenue of $421.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $420.50 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.49 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Materion will post 6.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Materion Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. Materion’s payout ratio is 11.35%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Shelly Marie Chadwick sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.60, for a total transaction of $265,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 13,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,743,292.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Shelly Marie Chadwick sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.60, for a total transaction of $265,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 13,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,743,292.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Gregory R. Chemnitz sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.74, for a total transaction of $401,220.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,510 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,940,567.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Materion

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in Materion by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,414,043 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $292,720,000 after purchasing an additional 28,638 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Materion by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,541,196 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $330,686,000 after acquiring an additional 9,394 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Materion by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,292,435 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $110,815,000 after acquiring an additional 5,975 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Materion by 21.3% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,030,733 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $88,375,000 after acquiring an additional 181,087 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trigran Investments Inc. grew its stake in Materion by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Trigran Investments Inc. now owns 687,794 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $89,503,000 after acquiring an additional 12,500 shares in the last quarter. 93.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of Materion from $157.00 to $156.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 1st.

About Materion

Materion Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, produces advanced engineered materials used in semiconductor, industrial, aerospace and defense, automotive, energy, consumer electronics, and telecom and data center in the United States, Asia, Europe, and internationally. The company operates in four segments: Performance Materials, Electronic Materials, Precision Optics, and Other.