Short Interest in Materion Co. (NYSE:MTRN) Declines By 19.5%

Materion Co. (NYSE:MTRN) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 372,500 shares, a drop of 19.5% from the November 15th total of 462,700 shares. Approximately 1.8% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 93,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.0 days.

Insider Activity at Materion

In related news, VP Gregory R. Chemnitz sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.57, for a total transaction of $235,140.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 12,031 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,414,484.67. This represents a 14.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Shelly Marie Chadwick sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.92, for a total value of $115,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 13,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,530,144. This trade represents a 7.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Materion

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MTRN. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC increased its position in Materion by 9,463.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC now owns 9,147,463 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,023,235,000 after purchasing an additional 9,051,813 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Materion by 1.0% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,213,367 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $131,201,000 after buying an additional 12,454 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its position in shares of Materion by 12.0% in the third quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 603,445 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $67,501,000 after buying an additional 64,470 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Materion by 0.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 466,972 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $52,246,000 after buying an additional 2,953 shares during the period. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC boosted its position in Materion by 31.3% during the second quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 444,003 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $48,010,000 after acquiring an additional 105,969 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.56% of the company’s stock.

Materion Price Performance

Shares of MTRN traded down $0.92 on Friday, reaching $110.60. The stock had a trading volume of 82,380 shares, compared to its average volume of 96,812. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $110.83 and a 200 day moving average of $110.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.29 billion, a PE ratio of 31.16 and a beta of 1.21. Materion has a twelve month low of $96.18 and a twelve month high of $145.08. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 3.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Materion (NYSE:MTRN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.41. Materion had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 4.45%. The business had revenue of $436.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $416.40 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.39 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Materion will post 5.24 EPS for the current year.

Materion Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were issued a dividend of $0.135 per share. This represents a $0.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. Materion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.21%.

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.