State of Wyoming Purchases 638 Shares of Materion Co. (NYSE:MTRN)

State of Wyoming grew its position in shares of Materion Co. (NYSE:MTRN) by 5.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 12,054 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 638 shares during the quarter. State of Wyoming’s holdings in Materion were worth $1,192,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Materion by 269.5% in 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 period. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in Materion by 54.5% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 882 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $87,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in Materion by 30.3% in the 4th 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 during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc bought a new position in Materion in the 4th quarter worth $202,000. Finally, Summit Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Materion by 6.8% in the 4th 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 during the period. 93.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Materion Price Performance

Shares of Materion stock opened at $79.52 on Friday. Materion Co. has a one year low of $69.10 and a one year high of $123.21. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $80.56 and its 200 day moving average is $95.45. The stock has a market cap of $1.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 274.19 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 3.19.

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

Materion Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 29th will be paid a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 29th. This is a positive change from Materion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. Materion’s dividend payout ratio is presently 112.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Materion news, VP Gregory R. Chemnitz sold 2,000 shares of the 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,076,099.20. This represents a 13.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.