Materion (NYSE:MTRN) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Materion (NYSE:MTRN - Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Friday morning.

Separately, KeyCorp reaffirmed a "sector weight" rating on shares of Materion in a report on Wednesday, May 7th.

Materion Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of MTRN stock traded down $0.06 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $80.63. The company's stock had a trading volume of 604,011 shares, compared to its average volume of 112,541. Materion has a 52-week low of $69.10 and a 52-week high of $123.21. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $79.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $88.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 2.84. The stock has a market cap of $1.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 161.26 and a beta of 0.81.

Materion (NYSE:MTRN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $420.33 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $396.83 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.96 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Materion will post 5.5 EPS 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 $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 29th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. This is a positive change from Materion's previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. Materion's payout ratio is presently 112.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Gregory R. Chemnitz sold 2,000 shares of Materion stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.45, for a total value of $160,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 13,376 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,076,099.20. The trade was a 13.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 2.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Materion

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MTRN. Jones Financial Companies Lllp bought a new stake in Materion during the first quarter valued at about $34,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Materion by 269.5% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 436 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in Materion by 30.3% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,347 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $133,000 after purchasing an additional 313 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Materion by 722.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,146 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $175,000 after purchasing an additional 1,885 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Materion during the first quarter valued at about $201,000. Institutional investors own 93.56% of the company's stock.

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.