Joel M. Wine Sells 11,444 Shares of Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) Stock

Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) CFO Joel M. Wine sold 11,444 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.65, for a total value of $1,472,270.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 114,974 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,791,405.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Matson Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of MATX traded down $0.53 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $128.30. 270,125 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 266,660. Matson, Inc. has a 1 year low of $82.68 and a 1 year high of $133.88. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $124.26 and its 200-day moving average is $116.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.19 and a beta of 1.09.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The shipping company reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.05. Matson had a return on equity of 12.66% and a net margin of 9.61%. The firm had revenue of $722.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $730.44 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.94 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Matson, Inc. will post 10.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Matson Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 1st will be paid a $0.34 dividend. This is a positive change from Matson’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 1st. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.06%. Matson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.09%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Matson

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MATX. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Matson by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,984,076 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $447,810,000 after acquiring an additional 215,452 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management grew its position in shares of Matson by 450.4% during the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 239,439 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $26,243,000 after acquiring an additional 195,939 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of Matson by 3,509.3% during the 1st quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 188,910 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $21,233,000 after acquiring an additional 183,676 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Matson during the 4th quarter valued at about $10,295,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Matson by 25.5% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 293,163 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $32,131,000 after buying an additional 59,652 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MATX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Matson from $109.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $135.00 target price on shares of Matson in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Matson from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd.

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.