Matthews International Co. (NASDAQ:MATW – Get Free Report) shares were down 7% during trading on Monday after B. Riley lowered their price target on the stock from $61.00 to $59.00. B. Riley currently has a buy rating on the stock. Matthews International traded as low as $28.41 and last traded at $28.55. Approximately 97,335 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 31% from the average daily volume of 141,710 shares. The stock had previously closed at $30.69.
Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of Matthews International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st.
Hedge Funds Weigh In On Matthews International
Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in Matthews International by 92.3% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 854 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 410 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. boosted its holdings in Matthews International by 7.0% in the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 30,240 shares of the company’s stock worth $979,000 after purchasing an additional 1,976 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Matthews International by 53.3% during the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 16,919 shares of the company’s stock valued at $547,000 after acquiring an additional 5,885 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its holdings in shares of Matthews International by 13.8% during the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 27,199 shares of the company’s stock valued at $880,000 after acquiring an additional 3,306 shares during the period. Finally, BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in shares of Matthews International by 0.3% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,406,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $174,948,000 after purchasing an additional 14,222 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.40% of the company’s stock.
Matthews International Trading Down 6.6 %
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 business’s 50 day moving average is $35.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $879.60 million, a P/E ratio of 27.25 and a beta of 1.14.
Matthews International (NASDAQ:MATW – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 16th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $480.17 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $483.00 million. Matthews International had a return on equity of 16.44% and a net margin of 1.77%. Analysts expect that Matthews International Co. will post 2.9 EPS for the current year.
Matthews International Increases Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 19th. Investors of record on Monday, February 5th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.35%. This is a positive change from Matthews International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 2nd. Matthews International’s dividend payout ratio is presently 90.57%.
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.