Matson (NYSE:MATX) Downgraded to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Matson (NYSE:MATX) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday.

Separately, Stephens increased their price objective on shares of Matson from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd.

Matson Price Performance

NYSE MATX opened at $125.49 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $130.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $119.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.80 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Matson has a 12-month low of $82.68 and a 12-month high of $138.84.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The shipping company reported $3.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.26. Matson had a return on equity of 13.87% and a net margin of 10.41%. The firm had revenue of $847.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $861.68 million. Analysts forecast that Matson will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Matson Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 1st were paid a $0.34 dividend. This is a positive change from Matson’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 1st. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.08%. Matson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.04%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Jason Lee Taylor sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 9,392 shares in the company, valued at $1,274,776.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, SVP Jason Lee Taylor sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.73, for a total value of $135,730.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,392 shares in the company, valued at $1,274,776.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Matthew J. Cox sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.17, for a total transaction of $1,028,775.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 215,397 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,546,006.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 104,376 shares of company stock valued at $13,565,120. 2.32% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Matson

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. boosted its holdings in Matson by 5.8% during the first quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. now owns 2,089 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $229,000 after buying an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Matson by 1.3% in the second quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 9,585 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $1,255,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the period. AlphaMark Advisors LLC boosted its stake 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 worth $381,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. grew its position in shares of Matson by 13.4% during the 1st quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. now owns 1,131 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $127,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the period. Finally, Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Matson by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC now owns 2,332 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $262,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.76% of the company’s stock.

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.