Minerals Technologies (NYSE:MTX) Upgraded to Strong-Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Minerals Technologies (NYSE:MTX) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report issued on Saturday morning.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on MTX. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Minerals Technologies from $84.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Zacks Research raised shares of Minerals Technologies from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Minerals Technologies in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.00.

Minerals Technologies Price Performance

Shares of Minerals Technologies stock opened at $76.02 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 1.45. Minerals Technologies has a fifty-two week low of $51.87 and a fifty-two week high of $76.71. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $70.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $65.28. The company has a market cap of $2.36 billion, a PE ratio of 14.70 and a beta of 1.12.

Minerals Technologies (NYSE:MTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $546.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $516.39 million. Minerals Technologies had a net margin of 7.60% and a return on equity of 10.47%. The business’s revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.14 EPS. Analysts expect that Minerals Technologies will post 6.23 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Minerals Technologies

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MTX. SG Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Minerals Technologies by 137.1% during the 4th quarter. SG Capital Management LLC now owns 148,385 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $9,044,000 after purchasing an additional 548,385 shares during the last quarter. Caption Management LLC lifted its holdings in Minerals Technologies by 102.7% during the 4th quarter. Caption Management LLC now owns 5,375 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $328,000 after purchasing an additional 205,375 shares during the last quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP lifted its holdings in Minerals Technologies by 22.9% during the 4th quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 819,908 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $49,973,000 after purchasing an additional 152,950 shares during the last quarter. Invenomic Capital Management LP bought a new position in Minerals Technologies during the 4th quarter valued at about $7,058,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Minerals Technologies by 26.5% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 496,215 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $27,327,000 after purchasing an additional 103,853 shares during the last quarter. 97.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Minerals Technologies

Here are the key news stories impacting Minerals Technologies this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 beats on both EPS and revenue — Minerals Technologies reported $1.38 EPS (beats consensus ~$1.25–$1.26) and revenue of $546.9M (vs. ~$516M est.), with revenue up ~11.2% year-over-year. These beats are the primary driver of the positive market reaction. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Management hosted a conference call and posted a slide deck with operational detail and segment commentary — helpful for judging sustainability of margins and outlook, but no material guidance change was announced in the releases. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Reported EPS includes special items — GAAP EPS was $1.17, or $1.38 excluding special items, which suggests one-time items reduced headline results and warrants checking the nature of those adjustments. Also note a modest negative net margin reported in summaries, which investors should monitor for profitability consistency. Read More.

About Minerals Technologies

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.