Royal Bank of Canada Trims Stake in Materion Co. (NYSE:MTRN)

Royal Bank of Canada cut its holdings in Materion Co. (NYSE:MTRN - Free Report) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 312,363 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 9,278 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada owned 1.51% of Materion worth $30,886,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Materion by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,523,141 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $249,488,000 after buying an additional 25,888 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of Materion by 16.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 1,838,484 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $181,789,000 after buying an additional 257,637 shares in the last quarter. Trigran Investments Inc. grew its stake in shares of Materion by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Trigran Investments Inc. now owns 737,830 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $72,957,000 after buying an additional 23,208 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Materion by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 625,767 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $61,876,000 after buying an additional 22,322 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC grew its stake in shares of Materion by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 473,606 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $46,830,000 after buying an additional 30,262 shares in the last quarter. 93.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Materion Stock Up 0.1%

MTRN traded up $0.04 on Thursday, hitting $77.32. 13,768 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 106,652. Materion Co. has a twelve month low of $69.10 and a twelve month high of $123.21. The company has a market cap of $1.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 266.69 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a current ratio of 3.19, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $79.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $93.74.

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

Materion Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. This is an increase from Materion's previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 29th. Materion's payout ratio is 112.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Materion news, VP Gregory R. Chemnitz sold 2,000 shares of Materion stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.45, for a total transaction of $160,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 13,376 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,076,099.20. The trade was a 13.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 2.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Materion Profile

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.