Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) Short Interest Down 15.5% in January

Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) saw a significant decline in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 938,200 shares, a decline of 15.5% from the December 31st total of 1,110,000 shares. Currently, 2.9% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 250,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.7 days.

Matson Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of MATX traded up $0.64 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $141.98. The company had a trading volume of 275,560 shares, compared to its average volume of 199,609. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $142.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $139.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock has a market cap of $4.72 billion, a PE ratio of 11.81 and a beta of 1.07. Matson has a 1-year low of $100.50 and a 1-year high of $169.12.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last issued 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. Matson had a net margin of 12.37% and a return on equity of 16.89%. The company had revenue of $962.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $965.73 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.40 earnings per share. Matson’s quarterly revenue was up 16.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Matson will post 13.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Matson Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 6th will be paid a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 6th. Matson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.31%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MATX. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Matson in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Matson from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Matson

In related news, EVP Rusty K. Rolfe sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.97, for a total transaction of $497,910.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 21,871 shares in the company, valued at $3,629,929.87. The trade was a 12.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Peter T. Heilmann sold 5,404 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.36, for a total value of $877,393.44. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 32,952 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,350,086.72. This trade represents a 14.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 9,646 shares of company stock worth $1,578,768 over the last quarter. Insiders own 2.32% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Matson

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Matson by 4,167,726.1% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 958,600 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $136,716,000 after purchasing an additional 958,577 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC purchased a new position in Matson during the 4th quarter valued at about $9,788,000. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec acquired a new position in Matson in the 3rd quarter valued at about $6,735,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Matson by 14,162.0% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 42,786 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $6,102,000 after purchasing an additional 42,486 shares during the period. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Matson during the third quarter worth about $5,746,000. 84.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.