Bank of America Corp DE Cuts Holdings in Materion Co. (NYSE:MTRN)

Bank of America Corp DE trimmed its holdings in Materion Co. (NYSE:MTRN - Free Report) by 44.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 34,371 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 27,829 shares during the quarter. Bank of America Corp DE owned approximately 0.17% of Materion worth $3,399,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Materion by 269.5% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 436 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 318 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in shares of Materion by 54.5% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 882 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $87,000 after acquiring an additional 311 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in shares of Materion by 30.3% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,347 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $133,000 after acquiring an additional 313 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc bought a new position in shares of Materion during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $202,000. Finally, Summit Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Materion by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,154 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $213,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. 93.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, KeyCorp reaffirmed a "sector weight" rating on shares of Materion in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th.

Insider Transactions at Materion

In related news, VP Gregory R. Chemnitz sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.45, for a total value of $160,900.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 13,376 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,076,099.20. This represents a 13.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.60% of the company's stock.

Materion Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MTRN traded up $1.77 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $79.37. 123,521 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 107,331. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 3.19 and a quick ratio of 1.26. Materion Co. has a 1 year low of $69.10 and a 1 year high of $123.21. The company's 50-day moving average is $78.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $92.34. The company has a market capitalization of $1.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 273.69 and a beta of 0.85.

Materion (NYSE:MTRN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $420.33 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $396.83 million. Materion had a return on equity of 12.42% and a net margin of 0.35%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.96 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Materion Co. will post 5.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Materion Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 29th will be paid a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 29th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. This is an increase from Materion's previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. Materion's dividend payout ratio is currently 112.00%.

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.