HighTower Advisors LLC Decreases Holdings in Minerals Technologies Inc. $MTX

Key Points

• HighTower Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Minerals Technologies Inc. by 88%, selling 24,529 shares and maintaining only 3,348 shares worth approximately $213,000.
• Minerals Technologies reported a quarterly earnings per share of $1.55, surpassing estimates but experiencing a 2.3% decline in revenue compared to the previous year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.11 per share, with a significant dividend payout ratio of 733.33%.

HighTower Advisors LLC cut its position in Minerals Technologies Inc. (NYSE:MTX - Free Report) by 88.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,348 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 24,529 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC's holdings in Minerals Technologies were worth $213,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. PharVision Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Minerals Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at $236,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Minerals Technologies by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,907 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $298,000 after buying an additional 421 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Minerals Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at $298,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Minerals Technologies by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,312 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $405,000 after buying an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Minerals Technologies by 7.3% in the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,955 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $442,000 after buying an additional 474 shares in the last quarter. 97.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MTX. Wall Street Zen raised Minerals Technologies from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Minerals Technologies from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $84.00.

Minerals Technologies Stock Up 1.2%

NYSE:MTX traded up $0.76 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $64.03. The company had a trading volume of 216,244 shares, compared to its average volume of 204,310. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1,067.41 and a beta of 1.22. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $60.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.80. Minerals Technologies Inc. has a 12-month low of $49.54 and a 12-month high of $86.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

Minerals Technologies (NYSE:MTX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $528.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $529.13 million. Minerals Technologies had a return on equity of 10.64% and a net margin of 0.10%.Minerals Technologies's revenue was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.65 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Minerals Technologies Inc. will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Minerals Technologies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. Minerals Technologies's payout ratio is 733.33%.

About Minerals Technologies

Minerals Technologies Inc develops, produces, and markets various mineral, mineral-based, and related systems and services. The company operates through two segments, Consumer & Specialties, and Engineered Solutions segments. The Consumer & Specialties segment offers household and personal care products, such as pet litter, personal care, fabric care, edible oil and other fluid purification, animal health, and agricultural products; and specialty additives products, including precipitated calcium carbonate and ground calcium carbonate products that are used in the paper, paperboard, and fiber based packaging industries, as well as automotive, construction, and table and food applications.