Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Raises Stake in Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) by 9.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 14,083 shares of the shipping company’s stock after buying an additional 1,246 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Matson were worth $1,899,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in Matson by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,049,772 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $141,551,000 after purchasing an additional 91,172 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Matson by 5.5% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 395,716 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $56,437,000 after acquiring an additional 20,568 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Matson by 10.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 286,968 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $40,927,000 after acquiring an additional 26,366 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Matson by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 180,956 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $24,400,000 after acquiring an additional 4,945 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers increased its position in Matson by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 103,398 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $13,942,000 after purchasing an additional 1,518 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.76% of the company’s stock.

Matson Stock Performance

MATX stock opened at $144.07 on Friday. Matson, Inc. has a one year low of $100.50 and a one year high of $169.12. The firm has a market cap of $4.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.99 and a beta of 1.05. 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 firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $139.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $141.11.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The shipping company reported $3.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.60. The company had revenue of $890.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $851.78 million. Matson had a net margin of 12.37% and a return on equity of 16.89%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Matson, Inc. will post 13.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Matson Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 6th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.94%. Matson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.69%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Stephens upped their price target on shares of Matson from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wolfe Research lowered Matson from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Matson from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday.

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.