Minerals Technologies Inc. (NYSE:MTX) Short Interest Up 19.0% in May

by · The Markets Daily

Minerals Technologies Inc. (NYSE:MTX – Get Free Report) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 478,500 shares, a growth of 19.0% from the April 30th total of 402,200 shares. Currently, 1.5% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 259,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.8 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Kristina M. Johnson purchased 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $53.79 per share, with a total value of $53,790.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 1,400 shares in the company, valued at $75,306. This represents a 250.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Minerals Technologies

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Minerals Technologies by 210.1% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 111,526 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $8,615,000 after acquiring an additional 75,565 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Minerals Technologies in the 4th quarter worth approximately $145,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Minerals Technologies by 21.4% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,009 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Minerals Technologies by 43.9% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,478 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $113,000 after buying an additional 451 shares during the period. Finally, Guidance Capital Inc. bought a new stake in Minerals Technologies during the 4th quarter valued at $462,000. 97.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MTX has been the subject of several analyst reports. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Minerals Technologies from $92.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Minerals Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 9th.

Get Our Latest Research Report on Minerals Technologies

Minerals Technologies Stock Down 0.1%

MTX stock opened at $57.83 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.16 and a beta of 1.22. Minerals Technologies has a 1-year low of $49.54 and a 1-year high of $90.30. The company has a current ratio of 2.84, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $56.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $68.11.

Minerals Technologies (NYSE:MTX – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The basic materials company reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.16 by ($0.02). Minerals Technologies had a net margin of 7.89% and a return on equity of 11.49%. The company had revenue of $491.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $502.03 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.49 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Minerals Technologies will post 6.62 EPS for the current year.

Minerals Technologies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.76%. Minerals Technologies’s payout ratio is -57.14%.

Minerals Technologies Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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