Materion (NYSE:MTRN) Stock Falls 13.9% – Should You Sell?

Shares of Materion Corporation (NYSE:MTRN) dropped 13.9% during mid-day trading on Wednesday. The company traded as low as $198.78 and last traded at $195.7750. 93,354 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 66% from the average session volume of 278,283 shares. The stock had previously closed at $227.43.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on MTRN shares. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Materion in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $314.00 target price for the company. Weiss Ratings lowered Materion from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. KeyCorp upped their target price on Materion from $237.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Materion from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Materion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Materion currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $310.00.

Materion Stock Down 21.3%

The company has a market cap of $3.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.66 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 2.94. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $252.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $212.29.

Materion (NYSE:MTRN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $567.29 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $611.38 million. Materion had a return on equity of 13.38% and a net margin of 4.29%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 27.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.41 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Materion Corporation will post 7.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Materion Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be issued a $0.1450 dividend. This represents a $0.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. Materion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Vinod M. Khilnani sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $235.16, for a total transaction of $470,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 11,171 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,626,972.36. This represents a 15.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Jugal K. Vijayvargiya sold 24,336 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.62, for a total value of $7,096,864.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 116,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,031,762.38. The trade was a 17.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 29,053 shares of company stock worth $8,301,958 over the last three months. Company insiders own 2.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Materion by 40.0% during the third quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 42,131 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $11,358,000 after acquiring an additional 12,042 shares during the period. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al increased its stake in shares of Materion by 48.9% in the third quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al now owns 6,700 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,806,000 after purchasing an additional 2,200 shares in the last quarter. Choreo LLC grew its stake in Materion by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 1,320 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $356,000 after buying an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. EULAV Asset Management purchased a new position in Materion in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,399,000. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its holdings in Materion by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 3,050 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $822,000 after acquiring an additional 211 shares during the period. 93.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Materion Company Profile

Materion Corporation is an advanced materials company that develops, manufactures and supplies engineered materials for demanding applications. Its product portfolio includes beryllium and beryllium-aluminum alloys, specialty metals, precious-metal and clad materials, thin-film coating materials, optical filters and other precision components.

The company’s materials and products are used in aerospace and defense, semiconductor manufacturing, communications, medical technology, energy, automotive and other industrial markets.