Materion (NYSE:MTRN) Trading Up 6.6% - Still a Buy?

Materion Corporation (NYSE:MTRN - Get Free Report) shares traded up 6.6% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $95.96 and last traded at $94.48. 29,603 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 74% from the average session volume of 115,404 shares. The stock had previously closed at $88.63.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MTRN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Materion from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 5th. KeyCorp upgraded Materion from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $112.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday.

Materion Stock Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average price of $80.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $86.20. The company has a current ratio of 2.84, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The company has a market cap of $2.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 192.59 and a beta of 0.80.

Materion (NYSE:MTRN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.01. Materion had a return on equity of 12.83% and a net margin of 0.59%. The company had revenue of $420.33 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $396.83 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.96 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Materion Corporation will post 5.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Materion Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 29th were issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. This is an increase from Materion's previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 29th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Materion's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 112.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Gregory R. Chemnitz sold 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.45, for a total value of $160,900.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Materion

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in Materion by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 40,800 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,034,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. grew its holdings in Materion by 463.6% during the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 2,818 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $279,000 after purchasing an additional 2,318 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Materion by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 44,367 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,387,000 after acquiring an additional 3,347 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in shares of Materion in the fourth quarter worth $415,000. Finally, LPL Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Materion by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 3,740 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $370,000 after acquiring an additional 241 shares during the period. 93.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Materion Company 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.