Phocas Financial Corp. Trims Stake in Materion Corporation $MTRN

Phocas Financial Corp. cut its stake in shares of Materion Corporation (NYSE:MTRN) by 47.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 37,414 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 34,112 shares during the period. Phocas Financial Corp. owned about 0.18% of Materion worth $2,970,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Materion by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 103,572 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $8,451,000 after acquiring an additional 2,369 shares during the period. Dover Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Materion in the second quarter worth $209,000. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Materion by 67.6% in the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 122,009 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,956,000 after purchasing an additional 49,217 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new stake in shares of Materion during the 1st quarter valued at $248,000. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Materion by 41.3% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 289,106 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $23,592,000 after buying an additional 84,482 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.56% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director N Mohan Reddy sold 1,155 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.45, for a total value of $121,794.75. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 2.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on MTRN shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Materion in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research lowered Materion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. KeyCorp increased their target price on Materion from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Materion from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Materion currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $117.00.

Materion Stock Up 4.4%

Shares of NYSE MTRN opened at $116.40 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 3.28, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Materion Corporation has a 12-month low of $69.10 and a 12-month high of $135.33. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $120.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $99.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 122.52 and a beta of 0.91.

Materion (NYSE:MTRN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter. Materion had a return on equity of 12.66% and a net margin of 1.12%.The company had revenue of $230.20 million during the quarter. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Materion Corporation will post 5.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Materion Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 13th. Materion’s dividend payout ratio is presently 58.95%.

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.