Matson (NYSE:MATX) Reaches New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $169.00 and last traded at $168.92, with a volume of 144356 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $163.97.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MATX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Stephens lifted their target price on shares of Matson from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Matson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th.

Matson Stock Down 1.7 %

The stock has a market cap of $5.46 billion, a PE ratio of 13.69 and a beta of 1.06. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $140.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $130.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The shipping company reported $5.89 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.98 by $0.91. The business had revenue of $962.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $965.73 million. Matson had a net margin of 12.37% and a return on equity of 16.89%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.40 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Matson, Inc. will post 13.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Matson Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be paid a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. Matson’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.31%.

Insider Activity at Matson

In related news, SVP Richard S. Kinney sold 1,615 shares of Matson stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.62, for a total value of $215,796.30. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 7,973 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,065,352.26. This trade represents a 16.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Leonard P. Isotoff sold 492 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.26, for a total value of $79,339.92. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,254 shares in the company, valued at $686,000.04. This trade represents a 10.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 29,614 shares of company stock valued at $4,338,094. Corporate insiders own 2.32% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Matson

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Matson by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,984,076 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $447,810,000 after buying an additional 215,452 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Matson by 4,167,726.1% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 958,600 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $136,716,000 after purchasing an additional 958,577 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Matson by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 911,827 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $119,422,000 after purchasing an additional 36,901 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Matson by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 395,716 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $56,437,000 after buying an additional 20,568 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Encompass Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Matson by 52.1% during the second quarter. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC now owns 356,416 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $46,680,000 after buying an additional 122,017 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.76% of the company’s stock.

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.