Ulysses Management LLC Cuts Holdings in Materion Co. (NYSE:MTRN)

Ulysses Management LLC decreased its position in Materion Co. (NYSE:MTRN) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 288 shares during the period. Ulysses Management LLC’s holdings in Materion were worth $989,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in Materion during the fourth quarter worth about $415,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Materion during the fourth quarter worth about $10,399,000. Choreo LLC acquired a new position in Materion during the fourth quarter worth about $315,000. Barclays PLC boosted its position in Materion by 356.9% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 34,877 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,902,000 after acquiring an additional 27,244 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its position in Materion by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 625,767 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $61,876,000 after acquiring an additional 22,322 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Materion Trading Up 1.0%

MTRN opened at $80.39 on Tuesday. Materion Co. has a one year low of $69.10 and a one year high of $123.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.67 billion, a PE ratio of 277.21 and a beta of 0.85. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $80.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $95.24. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $420.33 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $396.83 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.96 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Materion Co. will post 5.5 EPS for the current year.

Materion Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Materion news, VP Gregory R. Chemnitz sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.45, for a total value of $160,900.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 13,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,076,099.20. This trade represents a 13.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 2.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Materion 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.