Wall Street Zen Upgrades Materion (NYSE:MTRN) to "Buy"

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

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

Materion Trading Up 4.6%

Shares of Materion stock traded up $3.71 on Friday, reaching $84.43. The company had a trading volume of 178,705 shares, compared to its average volume of 114,170. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $79.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $87.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 2.84. Materion has a 52-week low of $69.10 and a 52-week high of $123.21. The firm has a market cap of $1.76 billion, a PE ratio of 168.86 and a beta of 0.80.

Materion (NYSE:MTRN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 in the previous year, the company earned $0.96 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Materion will post 5.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Materion Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 29th were paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. This is an increase from Materion's previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 29th. Materion's dividend payout ratio is presently 112.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Gregory R. Chemnitz sold 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.45, for a total transaction of $160,900.00. Following the sale, the vice president owned 13,376 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,076,099.20. This represents a 13.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 2.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MTRN. Jones Financial Companies Lllp acquired a new position in Materion during the 1st quarter worth approximately $34,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Materion by 269.5% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 436 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in shares of Materion by 30.3% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,347 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $133,000 after purchasing an additional 313 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Materion by 722.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,146 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $175,000 after purchasing an additional 1,885 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Materion in the first quarter valued at $201,000. 93.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Materion

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.