Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 4,137 Shares of Matthews International Co. (NASDAQ:MATW)

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Matthews International Co. (NASDAQ:MATW) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 148,323 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,137 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.48% of Matthews International worth $4,106,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MATW. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Matthews International during the third quarter valued at $222,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Matthews International during the 3rd quarter valued at about $235,000. KBC Group NV boosted its position in Matthews International by 63.7% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,937 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 754 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its stake in Matthews International by 21.0% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 78,516 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,822,000 after acquiring an additional 13,620 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in Matthews International by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 6,602 shares of the company’s stock worth $153,000 after acquiring an additional 471 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.08% of the company’s stock.

Matthews International Stock Performance

Matthews International stock opened at $23.92 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.58. The company has a market capitalization of $740.78 million, a PE ratio of -12.14 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $27.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $25.98. Matthews International Co. has a fifty-two week low of $21.09 and a fifty-two week high of $32.24.

Matthews International (NASDAQ:MATW) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by ($0.12). Matthews International had a negative net margin of 3.48% and a positive return on equity of 12.88%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Matthews International Co. will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Matthews International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 24th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Matthews International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -50.76%.

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.