Advisors Asset Management Inc. Buys 891 Shares of Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) by 53.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,572 shares of the shipping company’s stock after buying an additional 891 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Matson were worth $367,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MATX. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its position in Matson by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 16,217 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $2,313,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Matson by 4.2% during the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 2,283 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $326,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Matson by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 1,663 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $237,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Matson by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 9,585 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $1,255,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AlphaMark Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Matson by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC now owns 2,909 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $381,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Matson

In related news, SVP Jason Lee Taylor sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.73, for a total value of $135,730.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP John Warren Sullivan sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.50, for a total value of $124,125.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,745 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,109,297.50. This represents a 5.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 17,145 shares of company stock valued at $2,649,185. Corporate insiders own 2.32% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on MATX. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Matson from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Stephens raised their price target on Matson from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Matson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th.

Matson Price Performance

MATX opened at $153.08 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $145.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $133.76. Matson, Inc. has a 52-week low of $93.75 and a 52-week high of $169.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.08 billion, a PE ratio of 12.74 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.13.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The shipping company reported $5.89 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.98 by $0.91. The business had revenue of $962.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $965.73 million. Matson had a net margin of 12.37% and a return on equity of 16.89%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.40 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Matson, Inc. will post 13.19 EPS for the current year.

Matson Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.89%. Matson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.