Equities research analysts predict that Minerals Technologies Inc. (NYSE:MTX) will report earnings of $1.07 per share for the current fiscal quarter, Zacks Investment Research reports. Two analysts have issued estimates for Minerals Technologies’ earnings. The lowest EPS estimate is $1.04 and the highest is $1.09. Minerals Technologies reported earnings of $1.13 per share in the same quarter last year, which would indicate a negative year over year growth rate of 5.3%. The firm is expected to issue its next quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 29th.
On average, analysts expect that Minerals Technologies will report full-year earnings of $4.58 per share for the current year, with EPS estimates ranging from $4.40 to $4.75. For the next year, analysts anticipate that the business will post earnings of $5.05 per share, with EPS estimates ranging from $4.80 to $5.40. Zacks’ earnings per share calculations are an average based on a survey of research analysts that that provide coverage for Minerals Technologies.
Minerals Technologies (NYSE:MTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 4th. The basic materials company reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.13. Minerals Technologies had a return on equity of 9.20% and a net margin of 6.88%.
A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Minerals Technologies from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $63.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, December 17th. TheStreet upgraded Minerals Technologies from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Finally, CL King boosted their price target on Minerals Technologies from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.67.
In other Minerals Technologies news, insider Jonathan J. Hastings sold 5,190 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.52, for a total value of $324,478.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 40,165 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,511,115.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Andrew M. Jones sold 3,009 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.93, for a total value of $186,347.37. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 11,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $727,120.13. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 32,699 shares of company stock valued at $2,185,646 over the last quarter. 2.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of MTX. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Minerals Technologies by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,797,141 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $235,876,000 after purchasing an additional 180,892 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Minerals Technologies by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,752,785 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $171,003,000 after purchasing an additional 31,556 shares during the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP lifted its stake in shares of Minerals Technologies by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 724,723 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $45,020,000 after purchasing an additional 37,312 shares during the last quarter. Eaton Vance Management lifted its stake in shares of Minerals Technologies by 18.7% in the 4th quarter. Eaton Vance Management now owns 677,482 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $42,085,000 after purchasing an additional 106,964 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GW&K Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Minerals Technologies by 138.3% in the 4th quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 507,144 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $31,504,000 after purchasing an additional 294,327 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.75% of the company’s stock.
Shares of Minerals Technologies stock traded down $0.19 on Tuesday, reaching $72.14. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,946 shares, compared to its average volume of 127,045. The company has a market capitalization of $2.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.60, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.47. Minerals Technologies has a 52-week low of $27.28 and a 52-week high of $72.66. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $66.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $58.88. The company has a quick ratio of 2.91, a current ratio of 3.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 11th. Investors of record on Friday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.28%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 18th. Minerals Technologies’s payout ratio is 4.73%.
About Minerals Technologies
Minerals Technologies Inc develops, produces, and markets various specialty mineral, mineral-based, and synthetic mineral products, and supporting systems and services worldwide. The company's Performance Materials segment supplies bentonite and bentonite-related products, as well as chromite and leonardite.
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