VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Makes New $1.34 Million Investment in Materion Corporation $MTRN

Key Points

• Virginia Retirement Systems purchased 4,500 Materion shares worth approximately $1.34 million in the second quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.56% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive: Materion has a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $310, with KeyCorp raising its target to $306 and Jefferies initiating coverage at $314.
• Materion exceeded quarterly EPS expectations, reporting $1.90 versus the $1.52 consensus, while revenue rose 42.2% year over year. However, company insiders sold approximately $8.3 million in stock during the last quarter.

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new stake in Materion Corporation (NYSE:MTRN - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 4,500 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $1,338,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Materion during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Allworth Financial LP purchased a new stake in Materion in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC acquired a new stake in Materion during the 3rd quarter valued at $35,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new stake in Materion during the 2nd quarter valued at $87,000. Finally, Kestra Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in Materion during the fourth quarter worth $40,000. 93.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Shelly Chadwick sold 1,705 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.00, for a total transaction of $499,565.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 15,246 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,467,078. This represents a 10.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Jugal K. Vijayvargiya sold 24,336 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.62, for a total transaction of $7,096,864.32. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 116,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,031,762.38. The trade was a 17.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 29,053 shares of company stock valued at $8,301,958 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 2.80% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on MTRN shares. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Materion from $237.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings lowered Materion from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research note on Thursday. Zacks Research upgraded Materion from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Materion in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. They issued a "buy" rating and a $314.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Materion from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $310.00.

Materion Stock Up 2.1%

MTRN stock opened at $256.87 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $248.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $212.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 2.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.88 and a beta of 1.08. Materion Corporation has a one year low of $109.61 and a one year high of $304.58.

Materion (NYSE:MTRN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The basic materials company reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.38. Materion had a return on equity of 13.38% and a net margin of 4.29%.The company had revenue of $308.19 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $549.82 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.37 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 42.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Materion has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.800-7.200 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Materion Corporation will post 7.04 EPS for the current year.

Materion Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th were given a dividend of $0.145 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $0.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Materion's dividend payout ratio is 13.52%.

Materion Profile

Materion Corporation is an advanced materials company that develops, manufactures and supplies engineered materials for demanding industrial and technology applications. Its portfolio includes specialty metals and alloys, thin-film deposition materials, precious and non-precious metal products, beryllium-based materials, specialty chemicals and precision optics.

The company's products are used in semiconductor manufacturing, aerospace and defense, medical technology, telecommunications, automotive systems, energy and other industrial markets.

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