Materion (NYSE:MTRN) Hits New 1-Year Low – Time to Sell?

Materion Co. (NYSE:MTRN)’s share price reached a new 52-week low during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $80.00 and last traded at $81.38, with a volume of 12104 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $81.60.

Materion Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 3.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The firm has a market cap of $1.63 billion, a PE ratio of 272.69 and a beta of 1.21. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $92.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $101.97.

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

Materion Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th were paid a $0.135 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $0.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. Materion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 186.21%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Materion news, CFO Shelly Marie Chadwick sold 805 shares of Materion stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.24, for a total transaction of $81,498.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,632 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,481,343.68. The trade was a 5.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MTRN. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC grew its position in Materion by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 473,606 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $46,830,000 after purchasing an additional 30,262 shares during the period. Voloridge Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Materion by 155.9% in the fourth quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 9,518 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $941,000 after buying an additional 5,798 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its holdings in Materion by 240.3% during the fourth quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 7,120 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $704,000 after acquiring an additional 5,028 shares during the period. State of Wyoming raised its position in Materion by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 12,054 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,192,000 after acquiring an additional 638 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Snowden Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in Materion by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,613 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $456,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares in the last quarter. 93.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.