D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Materion Co. (NYSE:MTRN)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. grew its stake in Materion Co. (NYSE:MTRN) by 28.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 27,751 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 6,091 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Materion were worth $2,744,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Materion by 269.5% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its position in shares of Materion by 54.5% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 882 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $87,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its position 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. CIBC Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Materion during the fourth quarter worth about $202,000. Finally, Summit Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Materion by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,154 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $213,000 after buying an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.56% of the company’s stock.

Materion Price Performance

NYSE:MTRN opened at $80.39 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 277.21 and a beta of 0.85. Materion Co. has a 1 year low of $69.10 and a 1 year high of $123.21. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $80.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $95.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 3.19 and a quick ratio of 1.26.

Materion (NYSE:MTRN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $420.33 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $396.83 million. Materion had a return on equity of 12.42% and a net margin of 0.35%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.96 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Materion Co. will post 5.5 EPS for the current year.

Materion Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 29th will be paid a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. This is a positive change from Materion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 29th. Materion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 112.00%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Gregory R. Chemnitz sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 13,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,076,099.20. This trade represents a 13.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Materion in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th.

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.