Minerals Technologies (NYSE:MTX) Lowered to "Buy" Rating by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Minerals Technologies has been downgraded from a "strong-buy" to a "buy" rating by Wall Street Zen, signaling a change in analyst sentiment regarding the stock's future performance.
• Truist Financial raised its target price for Minerals Technologies from $80.00 to $84.00, indicating continued confidence in the company's growth potential.
• Despite a recent earnings report showing a decrease in revenue compared to last year, the company exceeded analysts' EPS expectations, reporting $1.55 per share against a consensus of $1.43.

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Minerals Technologies (NYSE:MTX - Free Report) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Separately, Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Minerals Technologies from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $84.00.

Minerals Technologies Price Performance

NYSE:MTX traded up $1.24 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $64.75. The company had a trading volume of 224,779 shares, compared to its average volume of 212,095. Minerals Technologies has a 52-week low of $49.54 and a 52-week high of $86.49. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $61.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $59.59. The company has a market capitalization of $2.03 billion, a PE ratio of 1,079.35 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

Minerals Technologies (NYSE:MTX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.12. Minerals Technologies had a net margin of 0.10% and a return on equity of 10.64%. The company had revenue of $528.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $529.13 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.65 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Minerals Technologies will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Minerals Technologies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. Minerals Technologies's dividend payout ratio is 733.33%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Minerals Technologies

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Minerals Technologies by 7.3% during the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,955 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $442,000 after buying an additional 474 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Minerals Technologies by 15,381.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 13,159 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $837,000 after buying an additional 13,074 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Minerals Technologies by 341.8% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 8,394 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $534,000 after purchasing an additional 6,494 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Minerals Technologies by 2.6% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 171,008 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $10,871,000 after purchasing an additional 4,361 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Isthmus Partners LLC bought a new position in Minerals Technologies in the first quarter worth approximately $1,279,000. 97.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Minerals Technologies Company Profile

Minerals Technologies Inc develops, produces, and markets various mineral, mineral-based, and related systems and services. The company operates through two segments, Consumer & Specialties, and Engineered Solutions segments. The Consumer & Specialties segment offers household and personal care products, such as pet litter, personal care, fabric care, edible oil and other fluid purification, animal health, and agricultural products; and specialty additives products, including precipitated calcium carbonate and ground calcium carbonate products that are used in the paper, paperboard, and fiber based packaging industries, as well as automotive, construction, and table and food applications.