Matthews International (NASDAQ:MATW) Shares Gap Up to $26.88

Matthews International Co. (NASDAQ:MATW)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $26.88, but opened at $29.08. Matthews International shares last traded at $29.48, with a volume of 29,585 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on MATW. B. Riley dropped their price objective on Matthews International from $61.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 5th. StockNews.com lowered Matthews International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th.

Matthews International Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $877.14 million, a P/E ratio of 27.78 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $28.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $32.41.

Matthews International (NASDAQ:MATW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37. Matthews International had a return on equity of 16.44% and a net margin of 1.77%. The firm had revenue of $449.99 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $437.77 million. On average, research analysts predict that Matthews International Co. will post 2.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Matthews International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd. Matthews International’s dividend payout ratio is presently 90.57%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Matthews International

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Campbell Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Matthews International during the 4th quarter valued at $4,236,000. Great Lakes Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Matthews International during the 3rd quarter worth about $2,530,000. Skylands Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Matthews International by 620.0% during the 4th quarter. Skylands Capital LLC now owns 16,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $594,000 after buying an additional 13,950 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its holdings in Matthews International by 12.5% during the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 17,270 shares of the company’s stock worth $672,000 after buying an additional 1,914 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in Matthews International by 53.6% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 470,016 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,226,000 after buying an additional 163,984 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.08% of the company’s stock.

Matthews International Company Profile

Matthews International Corporation provides brand solutions, memorialization products, and industrial technologies worldwide. It operates through three segments: Memorialization, Industrial Technologies, and SGK Brand Solutions. The Memorialization segment provides bronze and granite memorials, upright granite memorials and monuments, concrete burial vaults, cremation memorialization products, granite benches, flower vases, crypt plates and letters, cremation urns, niche units, cemetery features, and statues, as well as bronze plaques, letters, emblems, vases, lights and photo ceramics, granite monuments, mausoleums, crypts, and flush memorials.