Forest Avenue Capital Management LP Sells 3,617 Shares of Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX)

Forest Avenue Capital Management LP lowered its stake in Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) by 1.6% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 228,838 shares of the shipping company’s stock after selling 3,617 shares during the period. Matson accounts for about 4.0% of Forest Avenue Capital Management LP’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Forest Avenue Capital Management LP’s holdings in Matson were worth $32,637,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Cynosure Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Matson during the third quarter worth $384,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in Matson by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 10,079 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $1,437,000 after purchasing an additional 703 shares in the last quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Matson in the 3rd quarter valued at about $211,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Matson in the third quarter valued at about $310,000. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Matson during the third quarter worth about $1,599,000. Institutional investors own 84.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Matthew J. Cox sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.17, for a total value of $1,028,775.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 215,397 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,546,006.49. This represents a 3.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Rusty K. Rolfe sold 3,000 shares of Matson 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,629,929.87. This trade represents a 12.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,645 shares of company stock valued at $3,677,960 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 2.32% of the company’s stock.

Matson Price Performance

NYSE:MATX opened at $157.10 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $145.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $133.49. Matson, Inc. has a 52-week low of $93.75 and a 52-week high of $169.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.13. The company has a market cap of $5.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.07 and a beta of 1.06.

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

Matson Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be paid a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. Matson’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.31%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MATX. Wolfe Research lowered Matson from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. StockNews.com cut shares of Matson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Finally, Stephens boosted their price objective on shares of Matson from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd.

Matson 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.