Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. Buys New Shares in Materion Co. (NYSE:MTRN)

Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Materion Co. (NYSE:MTRN) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,500 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $195,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. acquired a new position in Materion during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,311,000. Jennison Associates LLC acquired a new position in Materion during the third quarter valued at approximately $20,614,000. State Street Corp lifted its position in Materion by 21.3% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,030,733 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $88,375,000 after buying an additional 181,087 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Materion during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $14,780,000. Finally, Trigran Investments Inc. lifted its position in Materion by 14.6% during the third quarter. Trigran Investments Inc. now owns 675,294 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $68,819,000 after buying an additional 86,134 shares in the last quarter. 93.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, KeyCorp reduced their price target on shares of Materion from $157.00 to $156.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 1st.

Materion Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE MTRN traded down $0.27 during trading on Friday, reaching $119.48. 85,846 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 110,593. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $129.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $119.20. Materion Co. has a twelve month low of $92.23 and a twelve month high of $145.08. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 2.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company has a market capitalization of $2.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.09 and a beta of 1.14.

Materion (NYSE:MTRN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The basic materials company reported $1.41 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.38 by $0.03. Materion had a net margin of 5.75% and a return on equity of 13.49%. The business had revenue of $421.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $420.50 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.49 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Materion Co. will post 6.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Materion Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Materion’s payout ratio is currently 11.35%.

Insider Transactions at Materion

In other news, VP Gregory R. Chemnitz sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.74, for a total transaction of $401,220.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,510 shares in the company, valued at $1,940,567.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Shelly Marie Chadwick sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.60, for a total value of $265,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 13,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,743,292.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Gregory R. Chemnitz sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.74, for a total transaction of $401,220.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,510 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,940,567.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.30% 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.