Matthews International Co. (NASDAQ:MATW) Short Interest Up 26.5% in February

Matthews International Co. (NASDAQ:MATW - Get Free Report) was the target of a large increase in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 960,600 shares, an increase of 26.5% from the January 31st total of 759,300 shares. Currently, 3.3% of the company's stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 236,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.1 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Matthews International

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MATW. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Matthews International by 551.8% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 906 shares of the company's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 767 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Matthews International by 797.2% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 951 shares of the company's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 845 shares during the period. KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Matthews International by 63.7% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,937 shares of the company's stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 754 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Matthews International by 1,865.1% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 4,500 shares of the company's stock valued at $125,000 after purchasing an additional 4,271 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in shares of Matthews International by 7.7% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 6,602 shares of the company's stock valued at $153,000 after purchasing an additional 471 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.08% of the company's stock.

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Matthews International Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MATW traded up $0.60 during trading on Friday, reaching $24.60. 220,131 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 169,642. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 0.96. Matthews International has a 12 month low of $21.09 and a 12 month high of $32.24. The company has a 50 day moving average of $27.28 and a 200-day moving average of $25.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $761.84 million, a P/E ratio of -12.49 and a beta of 1.09.

Matthews International (NASDAQ:MATW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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%. On average, equities analysts expect that Matthews International will post 1.73 EPS for the current year.

Matthews International Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 24th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.07%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Matthews International's dividend payout ratio 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.