Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 925 Shares of Materion Corporation (NYSE:MTRN)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lessened its holdings in Materion Corporation (NYSE:MTRN) by 13.2% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 6,081 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 925 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Materion were worth $496,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Materion by 722.2% in 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. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Materion by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,154 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $213,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. MQS Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Materion in the first quarter worth $212,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Materion in the first quarter worth $244,000. Finally, Graham Capital Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Materion in the fourth quarter worth $300,000. Institutional investors own 93.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $117.00 price target (up from $115.00) on shares of Materion in a research report on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Materion from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Gregory R. Chemnitz sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.17, for a total value of $315,510.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 10,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,091,243.92. This represents a 22.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Melissa A. Fashinpaur sold 1,140 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.34, for a total transaction of $120,087.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,295 shares of company stock valued at $557,392 over the last ninety days. 2.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Materion Stock Performance

NYSE MTRN opened at $112.75 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 3.17, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $90.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $86.86. Materion Corporation has a 1 year low of $69.10 and a 1 year high of $123.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 140.94 and a beta of 0.85.

Materion (NYSE:MTRN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $431.66 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $403.73 million. Materion had a net margin of 0.94% and a return on equity of 12.69%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.42 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Materion Corporation will post 5.5 EPS for the current year.

Materion Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 22nd will be given a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 22nd. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Materion’s dividend payout ratio is presently 70.00%.

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.