Minerals Technologies Inc. (NYSE:MTX) Shares Acquired by Gamco Investors INC. ET AL

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL raised its stake in shares of Minerals Technologies Inc. (NYSE:MTX) by 10.3% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 240,935 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 22,535 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL’s holdings in Minerals Technologies were worth $13,900,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Gabelli Funds LLC increased its position in shares of Minerals Technologies by 12.7% during the second quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 88,500 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,106,000 after acquiring an additional 10,000 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Minerals Technologies by 8.5% during the second quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 215,132 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $12,411,000 after acquiring an additional 16,838 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its position in shares of Minerals Technologies by 21.7% during the second quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 12,303 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $710,000 after acquiring an additional 2,194 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Minerals Technologies by 2.3% during the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 436,050 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,156,000 after acquiring an additional 9,694 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. increased its position in shares of Minerals Technologies by 59.4% during the second quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 23,496 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,355,000 after acquiring an additional 8,752 shares during the last quarter. 94.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on MTX shares. TheStreet cut shares of Minerals Technologies from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, October 9th. StockNews.com cut shares of Minerals Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 3rd. CL King upgraded shares of Minerals Technologies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $72.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, July 31st. Finally, Sidoti upgraded shares of Minerals Technologies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, October 19th.

Minerals Technologies Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of Minerals Technologies stock opened at $62.48 on Tuesday. Minerals Technologies Inc. has a 52-week low of $48.61 and a 52-week high of $73.57. The company has a 50 day moving average of $54.72 and a 200 day moving average of $56.69. The company has a quick ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The company has a market capitalization of $2.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.40 and a beta of 1.27.

Minerals Technologies (NYSE:MTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 26th. The basic materials company reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.18. Minerals Technologies had a net margin of 2.99% and a return on equity of 9.15%. The company had revenue of $547.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $551.85 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.35 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Minerals Technologies Inc. will post 5.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Minerals Technologies Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 1st will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 31st. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.64%. This is an increase from Minerals Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.05. Minerals Technologies’s payout ratio is currently 20.10%.

Minerals Technologies Company Profile

Minerals Technologies Inc develops, produces, and markets various specialty mineral, mineral-based, and synthetic mineral products, and supporting systems and services. The company operates through three segments: Performance Materials, Specialty Minerals and Refractories. The Performance Materials segment supplies bentonite and bentonite-related products, as well as leonardite.