Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $10.01 Million Stock Position in Materion Co. (NYSE:MTRN)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Materion Co. (NYSE:MTRN) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 101,203 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 2,957 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.49% of Materion worth $10,007,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Creative Planning boosted its holdings in Materion by 38.5% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 2,792 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $312,000 after purchasing an additional 776 shares during the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Materion by 8.9% during the third quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 130,350 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $14,581,000 after purchasing an additional 10,700 shares during the last quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp purchased a new position in Materion during the third quarter worth about $301,000. ARK Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Materion during the third quarter worth about $85,000. Finally, Confluence Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Materion by 6.4% during the third quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 3,827 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $428,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares during the last quarter. 93.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Materion Stock Up 1.1 %

Materion stock opened at $91.34 on Friday. Materion Co. has a fifty-two week low of $89.56 and a fifty-two week high of $139.21. The stock has a market cap of $1.90 billion, a PE ratio of 314.97 and a beta of 1.23. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $99.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $106.16. 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 (NYSE:MTRN) last released its quarterly 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. Materion had a net margin of 0.35% and a return on equity of 12.42%. The business had revenue of $436.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $433.22 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.41 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Materion Co. will post 5.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Materion Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.135 dividend. This represents a $0.54 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Materion’s dividend payout ratio is 186.21%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Materion news, CFO Shelly Marie Chadwick sold 805 shares of Materion stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.24, for a total value of $81,498.20. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 14,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,481,343.68. The trade was a 5.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 2.30% of the company’s stock.

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.