Needham Investment Management LLC Buys 30,500 Shares of Matthews International Corporation $MATW

Needham Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Matthews International Corporation (NASDAQ:MATW) by 40.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 106,000 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 30,500 shares during the quarter. Needham Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Matthews International were worth $2,769,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MATW. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Matthews International by 9.0% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,664,426 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,796,000 after purchasing an additional 137,015 shares during the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL grew its holdings in Matthews International by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 1,554,105 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,593,000 after acquiring an additional 136,794 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Matthews International by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,530,341 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,973,000 after purchasing an additional 29,865 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in Matthews International by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,075,479 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,887,000 after purchasing an additional 22,046 shares during the period. Finally, Barington Companies Management LLC grew its holdings in Matthews International by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. Barington Companies Management LLC now owns 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,120,000 after purchasing an additional 87,196 shares during the period. 83.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MATW. Weiss Ratings lowered Matthews International from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Matthews International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 10th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Matthews International from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce”.

Matthews International Trading Down 1.5%

MATW opened at $26.43 on Tuesday. Matthews International Corporation has a 12 month low of $20.74 and a 12 month high of $30.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $824.62 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 85.26 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $26.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.43.

Matthews International (NASDAQ:MATW) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.20. Matthews International had a return on equity of 5.88% and a net margin of 0.80%.The firm had revenue of $258.62 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $253.65 million. Sell-side analysts expect that Matthews International Corporation will post 1.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Matthews International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 11th were given a dividend of $0.255 per share. This represents a $1.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. Matthews International’s dividend payout ratio is currently 329.03%.

Matthews International Company Profile

Matthews International Corporation (NASDAQ:MATW) is a diversified industrial company headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company operates through two primary business segments—Brand Solutions and Memorialization—offering a broad range of products and services designed to meet the needs of industrial manufacturers, brand marketers and the funeral industry worldwide.

In its Brand Solutions segment, Matthews International provides engraving and digital printing systems, automated finishing equipment, thermal management products and electronics assembly solutions.