Minerals Technologies (NYSE:MTX) Raised to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Minerals Technologies (NYSE:MTX) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Wednesday morning.

Minerals Technologies Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE MTX opened at $75.69 on Wednesday. Minerals Technologies has a one year low of $48.61 and a one year high of $90.29. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $75.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $77.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.72 and a current ratio of 2.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.19 and a beta of 1.30.

Minerals Technologies (NYSE:MTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The basic materials company reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.05. Minerals Technologies had a net margin of 4.05% and a return on equity of 11.46%. The firm had revenue of $541.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $561.60 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.31 earnings per share. Minerals Technologies’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Minerals Technologies will post 6.22 EPS for the current year.

Minerals Technologies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. Minerals Technologies’s payout ratio is 13.84%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MTX. US Bancorp DE raised its stake in shares of Minerals Technologies by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 12,457 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $888,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Minerals Technologies by 97.9% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 556 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp raised its stake in shares of Minerals Technologies by 1.3% during the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 28,482 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,144,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Minerals Technologies by 7.4% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 6,563 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $494,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares during the period. Finally, Summit Global Investments raised its stake in shares of Minerals Technologies by 2.6% during the second quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 18,799 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,563,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.29% of the company’s stock.

Minerals Technologies Company Profile

Minerals Technologies Inc develops, produces, and markets various mineral, mineral-based, and related systems and services. The company operates through two segments, Consumer & Specialties, and Engineered Solutions segments. The Consumer & Specialties segment offers household and personal care products, such as pet litter, personal care, fabric care, edible oil and other fluid purification, animal health, and agricultural products; and specialty additives products, including precipitated calcium carbonate and ground calcium carbonate products that are used in the paper, paperboard, and fiber based packaging industries, as well as automotive, construction, and table and food applications.