Short Interest in Minerals Technologies Inc. (NYSE:MTX) Rises By 21.2%

Minerals Technologies Inc. (NYSE:MTX) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 344,500 shares, an increase of 21.2% from the February 13th total of 284,300 shares. Currently, 1.1% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 171,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.0 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Minerals Technologies

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MTX. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Minerals Technologies by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 166,647 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $12,700,000 after acquiring an additional 4,356 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Minerals Technologies by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,268,792 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $97,989,000 after buying an additional 32,196 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Minerals Technologies by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 115,887 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $8,950,000 after buying an additional 10,284 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Minerals Technologies by 21.1% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 47,847 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,728,000 after buying an additional 8,335 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in shares of Minerals Technologies by 42.2% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 64,110 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,951,000 after purchasing an additional 19,037 shares in the last quarter. 97.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Minerals Technologies from $103.00 to $101.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com downgraded Minerals Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday.

Minerals Technologies Price Performance

NYSE MTX opened at $67.92 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.11 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $72.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $75.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 2.84 and a quick ratio of 1.98. Minerals Technologies has a 52-week low of $65.64 and a 52-week high of $90.30.

Minerals Technologies (NYSE:MTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.11. Minerals Technologies had a net margin of 7.89% and a return on equity of 11.49%. Equities research analysts predict that Minerals Technologies will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Minerals Technologies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. Minerals Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.49%.

About Minerals Technologies

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.