Highland Capital Management LLC Acquires 151 Shares of Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX)

Highland Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) by 6.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,390 shares of the shipping company’s stock after buying an additional 151 shares during the quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Matson were worth $322,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Matson by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,049,772 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $141,551,000 after buying an additional 91,172 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Matson by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 395,716 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $56,437,000 after purchasing an additional 20,568 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Matson by 10.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 286,968 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $40,927,000 after purchasing an additional 26,366 shares in the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP grew its stake in Matson by 23.7% in the third quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 92,873 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $13,246,000 after purchasing an additional 17,803 shares during the period. Finally, Paradiem LLC raised its holdings in Matson by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Paradiem LLC now owns 90,036 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $12,140,000 after purchasing an additional 1,909 shares in the last quarter. 84.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MATX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wolfe Research cut shares of Matson from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Matson in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Leonard P. Isotoff sold 492 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.26, for a total transaction of $79,339.92. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,254 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $686,000.04. This represents a 10.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed 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 transaction of $877,393.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 32,952 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,350,086.72. The trade was a 14.09 % decrease in their position. 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 ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.32% of the company’s stock.

Matson Trading Up 0.5 %

Matson stock opened at $141.98 on Friday. Matson, Inc. has a 52-week low of $100.50 and a 52-week high of $169.12. The company has a market cap of $4.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.81 and a beta of 1.07. 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $142.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $139.59.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The shipping company reported $5.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.98 by $0.91. Matson had a return on equity of 16.89% and a net margin of 12.37%. The business had revenue of $962.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $965.73 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.40 earnings per share. Matson’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Matson, Inc. will post 13.2 EPS for the current year.

Matson Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 6th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.96%. Matson’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.31%.

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.