Matthews International (NASDAQ:MATW) Shares Gap Up – What’s Next?

Matthews International Co. (NASDAQ:MATW) shares gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $26.74, but opened at $30.50. Matthews International shares last traded at $28.36, with a volume of 134,447 shares.

Matthews International Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $877.84 million, a PE ratio of -14.71 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $26.16.

Matthews International (NASDAQ:MATW) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.14. Matthews International had a positive return on equity of 13.69% and a negative net margin of 3.32%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.96 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Matthews International Co. will post 2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Matthews International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 24th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.53%. Matthews International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -51.81%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Matthews International

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp grew its stake in Matthews International by 6.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,208,505 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,037,000 after purchasing an additional 76,911 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Matthews International by 10.3% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 781,592 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,126,000 after purchasing an additional 73,240 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Matthews International by 0.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 729,539 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,929,000 after purchasing an additional 6,536 shares during the period. Barington Capital Group L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Matthews International by 18.2% during the third quarter. Barington Capital Group L.P. now owns 455,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,556,000 after buying an additional 70,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Matthews International by 10.0% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 375,855 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,404,000 after acquiring an additional 34,064 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.08% of the company’s stock.

About Matthews International

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.