Matthews International, parent company of Matthews Aurora Caskets, Matthews Cemetery Products, and Matthews Environmental Solutions (cremation products) announced yesterday that they will be increasing the dividend that they pay on common shares of their stock by $0.01 per quarter.

That will increase the dividend to $0.25 per share per quarter or $1.00 per year.  The announcement marks the 31st consecutive year that Matthews International has increased its dividend amount.

With the closing price of Matthews International stock at $24.09 per share on Wednesday, November 20, that means that a $1.00 per share dividend would be equal to an annualized yield of 4.15% as of yesterday’s closing price.

In this short press release on the matter, here’s what Matthews International CEO Joseph Bartolacci had to say, “Consistent with our long-term practice, we are pleased to announce another annual increase in our dividend for fiscal 2025. This reflects our ongoing confidence in the Company’s cash generation and long-term growth strategies.”

Matthews International is scheduled to report the company’s 4th Quarter and Fiscal Year 2024 results at the close of markets today (November 21, 2024).

Here is a history of Matthews International dividend payments per Seeking Alpha.

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Just the other day as I was looking at public companies in the Death Care realm I noticed that Matthews International was paying a dividend to stockholders of just over 4% annually.  I look at those type of things because when I make an investment I not only like the stock price to eventually go up. . . . but, in the meantime if the company pays their stockholders a dividend it’s almost like having a Certificate of Deposit (CD) to go along with the equity investment. . . .and, if the company routinely increases dividends, it’s like getting a “step-up” CD on your initial equity investment whenever that dividend increase happens.

Of course, dividends and equity investments are not guaranteed by the FDIC like Certificate of Deposits, up to $250,000, are.  However, a look at past performance can give one some assurances that dividends will continue to be paid.  Those companies who not only pay dividends, but have increased them each year for at least 25 consecutive years are known as “Dividend Aristocrat” companies.

I was somewhat surprised that Matthews International, parent company of Aurora Caskets and Matthews Cremation, had paid a dividend to their shareholders and increased that dividend for the past 29 years making them a “Dividend Aristocrat”.  That is a sign of strength and longevity that one might not think of when looking at the performance of Matthews International and its stock price over the past couple of years.

Here is a list of current “Dividend Aristocrats”.

This year-old article from Smart Business titled “How Matthews International Corporation continues to evolve and expand after 170 years“ give some perspective.  The article makes the point that Matthews has kept this streak going even while “Matthews has  completed nearly 100 acquisitions across its business segments, acquiring the technical capabilities and critical skillsets that have fueled its growth” (since going public in 1994).

Skillsets and technology require research and development to bring products to market and that can cost investment dollars.  As a matter of fact, one might wonder whether Matthews International can keep up the increasing dividend trajectory of their company.

For the first three quarters of the company’s 2024 Fiscal Year (which will end at the end of September) sales have dropped slightly as has EBIDTA creating a squeeze on the companies earnings as they transition into some new products. . . .with that situation it will be interesting to watch Matthews International and see if they can keep their 29-year annual dividend increase streak going.

Related Information:  Seeking Alpha’s Latest Dividend Grades on Matthews International are as follows:

• Safety :   B-
• Growth:   C-
• Yield:   A
• Consistency:  A+

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