Morgan Advanced Materials (LON:MGAM) Trading Down 13.1% Following Analyst Downgrade

Key Points

• Morgan Advanced Materials shares fell by 13.1% during trading, closing at GBX 196 ($2.62) after reaching a low of GBX 167 ($2.23).
• The company reported earnings per share of GBX 10.80 ($0.14) last quarter, with analysts projecting an annual EPS of 32.5.
• Insider trading activity saw significant share sales totaling over £20 million from company insiders in the last three months, while only 1.69% of shares remain with them.

Shares of Morgan Advanced Materials plc (LON:MGAM - Get Free Report) dropped 13.1% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on the stock from GBX 275 to GBX 250. Royal Bank Of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Morgan Advanced Materials traded as low as GBX 167 ($2.24) and last traded at GBX 196 ($2.63). Approximately 2,395,195 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 89% from the average daily volume of 1,269,546 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 225.50 ($3.03).

Separately, Citigroup cut their price objective on Morgan Advanced Materials from GBX 265 ($3.56) to GBX 240 ($3.22) and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday.

Insider Activity

In other Morgan Advanced Materials news, insider Richard Armitage sold 26,348 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 212 ($2.85), for a total value of £55,857.76 ($75,027.21). Also, insider Damien Caby sold 15,016 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 212 ($2.85), for a total transaction of £31,833.92 ($42,758.79). Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 93,951 shares of company stock worth $20,022,786. Corporate insiders own 1.69% of the company's stock.

Morgan Advanced Materials Stock Down 0.5%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 103.31, a current ratio of 2.19 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The business's fifty day simple moving average is GBX 219.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is GBX 219.40. The company has a market cap of £557.00 million, a PE ratio of 8.13, a PEG ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 1.34.

Morgan Advanced Materials (LON:MGAM - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported GBX 10.80 ($0.15) EPS for the quarter. Morgan Advanced Materials had a net margin of 6.17% and a return on equity of 19.02%. On average, analysts predict that Morgan Advanced Materials plc will post 32.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Advanced Materials Company Profile

Morgan Advanced Materials plc operates as a materials science and application engineering company primarily the United Kingdom. It serves customers in the industrial, transportation, petrochemical and chemical, energy, semiconductor and electronics, healthcare, and security and defense markets. The company was formerly known as The Morgan Crucible Company plc and changed its name to Morgan Advanced Materials plc in March 2013.