Matthews International (NASDAQ:MATW) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Matthews International Co. (NASDAQ:MATW)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $25.49, but opened at $29.75. Matthews International shares last traded at $31.11, with a volume of 113,004 shares traded.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, B. Riley lowered their target price on shares of Matthews International from $54.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 26th.

Matthews International Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The firm has a market cap of $943.70 million, a PE ratio of -15.98 and a beta of 1.06. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $23.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $25.25.

Matthews International Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a $0.25 dividend. This is a positive change from Matthews International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.24%. Matthews International’s payout ratio is -49.74%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Matthews International

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Matthews International by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 708,352 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,434,000 after acquiring an additional 55,687 shares during the period. Barington Capital Group L.P. grew its stake in shares of Matthews International by 18.1% during the 2nd quarter. Barington Capital Group L.P. now owns 385,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,644,000 after acquiring an additional 59,000 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Matthews International by 136.2% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 23,239 shares of the company’s stock valued at $582,000 after acquiring an additional 13,399 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Matthews International by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 68,771 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,138,000 after acquiring an additional 1,063 shares during the period. Finally, Comerica Bank grew its stake in shares of Matthews International by 73.9% during the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 24,246 shares of the company’s stock valued at $754,000 after acquiring an additional 10,304 shares during the period. 83.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.