Materion Corporation (NYSE:MTRN) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Key Points

• Short interest jumped 29.7% in February to 772,963 shares (about 3.8% of shares short) with a days-to-cover of 3.4 based on average daily volume of 226,577 shares.
• Insider selling has been notable—insiders sold 49,549 shares in the last 90 days, including CEO Jugal Vijayvargiya’s sale of 12,245 shares worth ~$1.92M; insiders own 2.6% of the stock while institutional investors own 93.56%.
• Earnings and outlook: Materion slightly beat quarterly EPS ($1.53 vs. $1.51) with revenue up 12.1%, set FY2026 guidance of $6.00–$6.50 EPS, and carries an average analyst price target of $170 with a consensus "Hold" rating.

Materion Corporation (NYSE:MTRN - Get Free Report) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 27th, there was short interest totaling 772,963 shares, an increase of 29.7% from the February 12th total of 595,778 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 226,577 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.4 days. Approximately 3.8% of the company's shares are short sold. Approximately 3.8% of the company's shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 226,577 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.4 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen lowered Materion from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Materion from $159.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Materion in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $170.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Materion news, CAO Melissa A. Fashinpaur sold 309 shares of Materion stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.00, for a total transaction of $49,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 310 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $49,600. The trade was a 49.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Jugal K. Vijayvargiya sold 12,245 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.86, for a total value of $1,920,750.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 118,008 shares in the company, valued at $18,510,734.88. This trade represents a 9.40% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 49,549 shares of company stock valued at $7,548,444 over the last ninety days. 2.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Materion

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. MidFirst Bank acquired a new position in shares of Materion during the 4th quarter valued at $288,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Materion by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 73,836 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $9,179,000 after purchasing an additional 1,013 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its holdings in Materion by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 2,266 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $282,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the period. Summit Global Investments bought a new stake in Materion in the fourth quarter valued at $570,000. Finally, Susquehanna Portfolio Strategies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Materion by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Susquehanna Portfolio Strategies LLC now owns 9,623 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,196,000 after purchasing an additional 608 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.56% of the company's stock.

Materion Trading Down 1.5%

Materion stock traded down $2.13 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $136.28. 253,200 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 224,570. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $147.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $130.21. Materion has a twelve month low of $69.10 and a twelve month high of $172.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 3.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.83 billion, a PE ratio of 37.96 and a beta of 0.84.

Materion (NYSE:MTRN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. Materion had a return on equity of 12.36% and a net margin of 4.19%.The company had revenue of $489.75 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $448.78 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.55 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Materion has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.000-6.500 EPS. Research analysts predict that Materion will post 5.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Materion Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 19th were paid a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Materion's payout ratio is 15.60%.

Materion Company Profile

Materion Corporation NYSE: MTRN is a global supplier of advanced materials and precision-engineered solutions. The company develops and manufactures high-performance alloys, engineered clad and composite materials, precision thin film products, and advanced optical and electronic materials. Materion's offerings address critical performance requirements for industries where material properties such as strength, wear resistance, conductivity and optical clarity are paramount.

Materion's core businesses include beryllium and beryllium composites for aerospace and defense platforms, nickel- and copper-based specialty alloys for industrial and medical applications, optical coatings and substrates for scientific instrumentation, and electronic materials used in semiconductor production.

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