Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Decreases Stake in Minerals Technologies Inc. (NYSE:MTX)

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lowered its holdings in Minerals Technologies Inc. (NYSE:MTX – Get Rating) by 12.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,962 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 555 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV’s holdings in Minerals Technologies were worth $241,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MTX. BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in Minerals Technologies by 40.1% in the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,188,420 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $256,360,000 after purchasing an additional 1,483,760 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Minerals Technologies by 10.5% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,585,400 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $177,155,000 after acquiring an additional 341,092 shares in the last quarter. Eaton Vance Management boosted its stake in shares of Minerals Technologies by 21.2% during the 1st quarter. Eaton Vance Management now owns 994,955 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $65,816,000 after acquiring an additional 174,127 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in shares of Minerals Technologies by 324.6% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 189,173 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $11,604,000 after purchasing an additional 144,616 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its position in Minerals Technologies by 13.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,181,445 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $58,375,000 after acquiring an additional 137,105 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.57% of the company’s stock.

Minerals Technologies Stock Performance

NYSE MTX opened at $57.65 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $58.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $60.47. Minerals Technologies Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $49.38 and a fifty-two week high of $73.57. The stock has a market cap of $1.88 billion, a PE ratio of 16.33 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a current ratio of 2.17.

Minerals Technologies (NYSE:MTX – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The basic materials company reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.09. Minerals Technologies had a return on equity of 9.53% and a net margin of 5.36%. The firm had revenue of $546.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $527.73 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.36 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Minerals Technologies Inc. will post 5.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Minerals Technologies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 1st will be paid a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 31st. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. Minerals Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 5.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on MTX shares. Sidoti downgraded shares of Minerals Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $70.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. StockNews.com started coverage on Minerals Technologies in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $70.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Minerals Technologies news, Director Rocky Motwani bought 822 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $60.82 per share, with a total value of $49,994.04. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 822 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,994.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Minerals Technologies

(Get Rating)

Minerals Technologies, Inc is a resource and technology-based company. It develops, produces, and markets a range of mineral, mineral-based, and synthetic mineral products. It operates through the following four segments: Performance Materials, Specialty Minerals, Refractories and Energy Services. The Performance Materials segment supplies bentonite and bentonite-related products, chromite and leonardite.