Minerals Technologies (NYSE:MTX) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Minerals Technologies (NYSE:MTX) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on MTX. Seaport Research Partners restated a “buy” rating on shares of Minerals Technologies in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Minerals Technologies from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Minerals Technologies from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Minerals Technologies has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.00.

Minerals Technologies Stock Performance

Minerals Technologies stock opened at $74.52 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $75.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $73.16. The stock has a market cap of $2.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -34.34 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.00. Minerals Technologies has a 1-year low of $53.94 and a 1-year high of $84.34.

Minerals Technologies (NYSE:MTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.60 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.64 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $548.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $558.77 million. Minerals Technologies had a negative net margin of 3.13% and a positive return on equity of 10.63%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Minerals Technologies will post 6.03 EPS for the current year.

Minerals Technologies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be given a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. Minerals Technologies’s payout ratio is presently -22.12%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Global Retirement Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Minerals Technologies in the second quarter valued at $30,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Minerals Technologies by 626.8% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 596 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 514 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Minerals Technologies by 36.0% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 552 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Torren Management LLC purchased a new position in Minerals Technologies during the 4th quarter valued at about $50,000. Finally, Persistent Asset Partners Ltd acquired a new position in Minerals Technologies in the 2nd quarter valued at about $50,000. 97.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Minerals Technologies

Minerals Technologies Inc develops, produces and processes a broad range of mineral-based products and solutions that serve a variety of industrial applications. Its offerings include bentonite, perlite, precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC), mineral sands, foundry additives, performance minerals and specialty chemicals designed to enhance performance in markets such as paper, steel, construction, oil and gas, environmental remediation and consumer products.

The company operates through several business segments, including Specialty Minerals, Refractory Minerals, Performance Materials and Recycled Materials.