Royce & Associates LP Cuts Holdings in Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX)

Royce & Associates LP lowered its stake in shares of Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) by 44.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,796 shares of the shipping company’s stock after selling 3,809 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in Matson were worth $684,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MATX. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Matson in the first quarter worth $182,000. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System raised its stake in Matson by 25.8% in the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 12,793 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $1,438,000 after buying an additional 2,620 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Matson by 5.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,984,076 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $447,810,000 after acquiring an additional 215,452 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. grew its stake in shares of Matson by 70.1% during the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 5,071 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $570,000 after acquiring an additional 2,090 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Matson during the first quarter valued at about $647,000. Institutional investors own 84.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Matson

In other Matson news, SVP Jason Lee Taylor sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.73, for a total transaction of $135,730.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,392 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,274,776.16. This represents a 9.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Rusty K. Rolfe sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.97, for a total value of $497,910.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 21,871 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,629,929.87. The trade was a 12.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 24,645 shares of company stock worth $3,677,960. 2.32% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on MATX shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Matson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Wolfe Research lowered Matson from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Stephens boosted their price target on Matson from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd.

Matson Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of Matson stock opened at $151.65 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $5.04 billion, a PE ratio of 12.71 and a beta of 1.06. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $142.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $132.04. Matson, Inc. has a 1 year low of $93.75 and a 1 year high of $169.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 1.13.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The shipping company reported $5.89 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.98 by $0.91. Matson had a return on equity of 16.89% and a net margin of 12.37%. The firm had revenue of $962.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $965.73 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.40 earnings per share. Matson’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Matson, Inc. will post 13.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Matson Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th. Matson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.31%.

About Matson

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.