Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Cuts Holdings in Materion Co. (NYSE:MTRN)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. cut its holdings in Materion Co. (NYSE:MTRN) by 12.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,464 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 514 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Materion were worth $343,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC boosted its holdings in Materion by 9,463.5% during the third quarter. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC now owns 9,147,463 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,023,235,000 after buying an additional 9,051,813 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Materion by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 625,767 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $61,876,000 after buying an additional 22,322 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Materion by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 466,972 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $52,246,000 after buying an additional 2,953 shares in the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Materion by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 412,795 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $40,817,000 after acquiring an additional 8,842 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Materion by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 264,197 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,124,000 after acquiring an additional 11,212 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.56% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Shelly Marie Chadwick sold 805 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.24, for a total value of $81,498.20. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,632 shares in the company, valued at $1,481,343.68. This trade represents a 5.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.30% of the company’s stock.

Materion Stock Up 2.4 %

MTRN stock opened at $87.65 on Tuesday. 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 Co. has a 12 month low of $80.21 and a 12 month high of $139.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.82 billion, a PE ratio of 302.23 and a beta of 1.20. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $95.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $102.89.

Materion (NYSE:MTRN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $436.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $433.22 million. Materion had a net margin of 0.35% and a return on equity of 12.42%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.41 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Materion Co. will post 5.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Materion Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th were issued a $0.135 dividend. This represents a $0.54 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 20th. Materion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 186.21%.

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.