American Century Companies Inc. Acquires 216,453 Shares of Minerals Technologies Inc. $MTX

American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Minerals Technologies Inc. (NYSE:MTX) by 20.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,284,532 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 216,453 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Minerals Technologies were worth $70,739,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Minerals Technologies by 161.1% in the second quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 590 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 364 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in Minerals Technologies by 44.6% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,011 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 312 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio bought a new stake in shares of Minerals Technologies during the 1st quarter valued at $70,000. Quarry LP grew its holdings in shares of Minerals Technologies by 105.3% during the 1st quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,503 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $96,000 after purchasing an additional 771 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Minerals Technologies in the first quarter worth $124,000. 97.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on MTX shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Minerals Technologies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 18th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Minerals Technologies in a report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Minerals Technologies currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $84.00.

Minerals Technologies Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE MTX opened at $59.26 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $59.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $59.30. The stock has a market cap of $1.85 billion, a P/E ratio of -2,961.52 and a beta of 1.26. Minerals Technologies Inc. has a 52-week low of $49.54 and a 52-week high of $84.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.98.

Minerals Technologies (NYSE:MTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 15th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of $557.00 million for the quarter. Minerals Technologies had a negative net margin of 0.08% and a positive return on equity of 10.69%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Minerals Technologies Inc. will post 6.62 EPS for the current year.

Minerals Technologies Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 30th will be given a $0.12 dividend. This is a boost from Minerals Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 30th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Minerals Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is presently -2,400.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Minerals Technologies

In other news, insider Brett Argirakis sold 6,501 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.68, for a total transaction of $381,478.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 27,602 shares in the company, valued at $1,619,685.36. This trade represents a 19.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Minerals Technologies Company Profile

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.