29,833 Shares in Minerals Technologies Inc. $MTX Bought by Empowered Funds LLC

Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in Minerals Technologies Inc. (NYSE:MTX) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 29,833 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,207,000. Empowered Funds LLC owned approximately 0.10% of Minerals Technologies as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LSV Asset Management boosted its stake in shares of Minerals Technologies by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 211,522 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $12,892,000 after purchasing an additional 23,000 shares in the last quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP raised its stake in Minerals Technologies by 22.9% in the fourth quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 819,908 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $49,973,000 after buying an additional 152,950 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG lifted its holdings in Minerals Technologies by 49.5% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 38,541 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,349,000 after buying an additional 12,761 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Minerals Technologies in the second quarter worth about $1,701,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC boosted its position in Minerals Technologies by 281.4% during the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 27,665 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,686,000 after acquiring an additional 20,411 shares in the last quarter. 97.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on MTX shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded Minerals Technologies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Weiss Ratings cut Minerals Technologies from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.00.

Minerals Technologies Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of Minerals Technologies stock opened at $71.16 on Thursday. Minerals Technologies Inc. has a 1 year low of $53.94 and a 1 year high of $84.34. The firm has a market cap of $2.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -32.79 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a 50-day moving average of $73.57 and a 200 day moving average of $73.44. 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 (NYSE:MTX) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $548.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $558.77 million. Minerals Technologies had a positive return on equity of 10.63% and a negative net margin of 3.13%.The company’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Minerals Technologies Inc. will post 6.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Minerals Technologies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be given a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. Minerals Technologies’s payout ratio is currently -22.12%.

Minerals Technologies Profile

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.