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

Ulysses Management LLC reduced its stake in Materion Co. (NYSE:MTRN) by 2.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 288 shares during the quarter. Ulysses Management LLC’s holdings in Materion were worth $989,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Materion by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,523,141 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $249,488,000 after purchasing an additional 25,888 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Materion by 16.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 1,838,484 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $181,789,000 after acquiring an additional 257,637 shares during the last quarter. Trigran Investments Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Materion by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Trigran Investments Inc. now owns 737,830 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $72,957,000 after acquiring an additional 23,208 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its holdings 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 worth $61,876,000 after acquiring an additional 22,322 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its holdings in shares of Materion by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 473,606 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $46,830,000 after acquiring an additional 30,262 shares during the last quarter. 93.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Gregory R. Chemnitz sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 approximately $1,076,099.20. This trade represents a 13.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Materion Price Performance

MTRN stock opened at $80.39 on Tuesday. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $69.10 and a 1 year high of $123.21. The firm has a market cap of $1.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 277.21 and a beta of 0.85. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $80.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $95.24.

Materion (NYSE:MTRN) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $420.33 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $396.83 million. Materion had a return on equity of 12.42% and a net margin of 0.35%. Materion’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.96 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Materion Co. will post 5.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Materion Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 29th. This is an increase from Materion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. Materion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 112.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.