Matthews International Corporation (NASDAQ:MATW) Announces $0.25 Quarterly Dividend

Key Points

• Matthews International Corporation has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share, leading to an annualized dividend of $1.00 with a dividend yield of 4.26%.
• The company currently has a payout ratio of 133.3%, indicating it must rely on its balance sheet to cover dividend payments, although future earnings are expected to enable a healthier payout ratio of 52.4%.
• Matthews International's stock recently dropped 1.8%, trading at $23.45, and it has faced a negative earnings performance, missing analysts' estimates in its last quarterly report.

Matthews International Corporation (NASDAQ:MATW - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, July 30th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 11th will be given a dividend of 0.25 per share on Monday, August 25th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 11th.

Matthews International has a payout ratio of 133.3% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities research analysts expect Matthews International to earn $1.91 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 52.4%.

Matthews International Price Performance

MATW stock traded down $0.45 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $23.04. The stock had a trading volume of 275,755 shares, compared to its average volume of 171,616. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00. Matthews International has a 52 week low of $18.50 and a 52 week high of $32.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $714.45 million, a P/E ratio of -9.04 and a beta of 1.27. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $23.37.

Matthews International (NASDAQ:MATW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.02). Matthews International had a negative net margin of 4.62% and a positive return on equity of 11.04%. The company had revenue of $427.63 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $435.62 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that Matthews International will post 1.73 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Matthews International

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Matthews International by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 32,663 shares of the company's stock worth $726,000 after buying an additional 514 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Matthews International by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 16,906 shares of the company's stock valued at $468,000 after acquiring an additional 593 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Matthews International by 55.1% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,687 shares of the company's stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 599 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in Matthews International by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 25,600 shares of the company's stock valued at $569,000 after purchasing an additional 650 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its stake in Matthews International by 551.8% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 906 shares of the company's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 767 shares in the last quarter. 83.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.