Matthews International (MATW) is a Top Dividend Stock Right Now: Should You Buy?
Whether it's through stocks, bonds, ETFs, or other types of securities, all investors love seeing their portfolios score big returns. But for income investors, generating consistent cash flow from each of your liquid investments is your primary focus.
Cash flow can come from bond interest, interest from other types of investments, and of course, dividends. A dividend is that coveted distribution of a company's earnings paid out to shareholders, and investors often view it by its dividend yield, a metric that measures the dividend as a percent of the current stock price. Many academic studies show that dividends make up large portions of long-term returns, and in many cases, dividend contributions surpass one-third of total returns.
Matthews International in Focus
Matthews International (MATW) is headquartered in Pittsburgh, and is in the Consumer Staples sector. The stock has seen a price change of 32.42% since the start of the year. The casket and memorial manufacturer is paying out a dividend of $0.22 per share at the moment, with a dividend yield of 2.21% compared to the Funeral Services industry's yield of 1.69% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.3%.
Taking a look at the company's dividend growth, its current annualized dividend of $0.86 is up 2.4% from last year. Over the last 5 years, Matthews International has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 7.46%. Looking ahead, future dividend growth will be dependent on earnings growth and payout ratio, which is the proportion of a company's annual earnings per share that it pays out as a dividend. Right now, Matthews International's payout ratio is 25%, which means it paid out 25% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.
Earnings growth looks solid for MATW for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2021 is $3.14 per share, which represents a year-over-year growth rate of 4.32%.
Bottom Line
From greatly improving stock investing profits and reducing overall portfolio risk to providing tax advantages, investors like dividends for a variety of different reasons. But, not every company offers a quarterly payout.
Big, established firms that have more secure profits are often seen as the best dividend options, but it's fairly uncommon to see high-growth businesses or tech start-ups offer their stockholders a dividend. Income investors must be conscious of the fact that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle during periods of rising interest rates. With that in mind, MATW presents a compelling investment opportunity; it's not only an attractive dividend play, but the stock also boasts a strong Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
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