Morgan Advanced Materials (LON:MGAM) Hits New 12-Month Low – Should You Sell?

Morgan Advanced Materials plc (LON:MGAM)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as GBX 193.80 ($2.52) and last traded at GBX 197.40 ($2.56), with a volume of 481692 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at GBX 198.80 ($2.58).

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on MGAM. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Advanced Materials from GBX 325 ($4.22) to GBX 330 ($4.29) and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Morgan Advanced Materials from GBX 320 ($4.16) to GBX 265 ($3.44) and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 3rd.

Morgan Advanced Materials Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of £554.19 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.09, a PEG ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a current ratio of 2.19, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 103.31. The stock’s 50-day moving average is GBX 240.39 and its 200-day moving average is GBX 255.33.

Morgan Advanced Materials (LON:MGAM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The company reported GBX 25.50 ($0.33) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Morgan Advanced Materials had a net margin of 6.17% and a return on equity of 19.02%. On average, analysts predict that Morgan Advanced Materials plc will post 32.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Advanced Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of GBX 6.80 ($0.09) per share. This represents a dividend yield of 3.17%. This is a positive change from Morgan Advanced Materials’s previous dividend of $5.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Morgan Advanced Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.39%.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Advanced Materials

In other Morgan Advanced Materials news, insider Pete Raby sold 48,253 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 204 ($2.65), for a total value of £98,436.12 ($127,822.52). Company insiders own 1.69% of the company’s stock.

About Morgan Advanced Materials

Morgan Advanced Materials plc operates as a materials science and application engineering company primarily the United Kingdom. It serves customers in the industrial, transportation, petrochemical and chemical, energy, semiconductor and electronics, healthcare, and security and defense markets. The company was formerly known as The Morgan Crucible Company plc and changed its name to Morgan Advanced Materials plc in March 2013.