Matson (NYSE:MATX) Upgraded to “Buy” by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Matson (NYSE:MATX) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Wednesday.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on MATX. Stephens reissued an overweight rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Matson in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Matson from $109.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st.

Matson Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE MATX opened at $130.64 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $119.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $114.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 0.97. Matson has a twelve month low of $74.04 and a twelve month high of $133.53. The stock has a market cap of $4.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.41 and a beta of 1.09.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The shipping company reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $722.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $730.44 million. Matson had a return on equity of 12.66% and a net margin of 9.61%. Matson’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.94 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Matson will post 10.1 EPS for the current year.

Matson Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 1st will be given a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 1st. This is a positive change from Matson’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Matson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Matson

In other news, CFO Joel M. Wine sold 12,090 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.73, for a total transaction of $1,568,435.70. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 139,239 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,063,475.47. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Joel M. Wine sold 12,090 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.73, for a total transaction of $1,568,435.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 139,239 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,063,475.47. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Matthew J. Cox sold 7,843 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.54, for a total value of $1,023,825.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 230,397 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,076,024.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 34,359 shares of company stock worth $4,363,849 over the last ninety days. 2.32% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Matson

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Matson by 25.4% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 60,648 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $5,381,000 after acquiring an additional 12,285 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in Matson by 36.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 94,448 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $8,379,000 after buying an additional 25,121 shares during the period. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Matson by 11.3% during the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 29,767 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $2,641,000 after buying an additional 3,025 shares during the last quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Matson by 16.1% in the third quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 4,519 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $401,000 after acquiring an additional 625 shares during the period. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of Matson in the third quarter worth $219,000. 84.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Matson Company Profile

Matson, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of ocean transportation and logistics services. It operates through two segments, Ocean Transportation and Logistics. The Ocean Transportation segment offers ocean freight transportation services to the domestic non-contiguous economies of Hawaii, Japan, Alaska, and Guam, as well as to other island economies in Micronesia.