Matson (NYSE:MATX) Receives “Overweight” Rating from Stephens

Matson (NYSE:MATX)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reaffirmed by equities research analysts at Stephens in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $165.00 target price on the shipping company’s stock. Stephens’ price target indicates a potential upside of 17.76% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Matson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Matson from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th.

Matson Price Performance

NYSE:MATX opened at $140.11 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.65 billion, a PE ratio of 11.66 and a beta of 1.04. Matson has a 52 week low of $100.50 and a 52 week high of $169.12. 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’s 50-day moving average price is $148.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $137.88.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The shipping company reported $5.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.98 by $0.91. The company 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%. Matson’s quarterly revenue was up 16.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.40 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Matson will post 13.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Leonard P. Isotoff sold 492 shares of Matson stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.26, for a total transaction of $79,339.92. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,254 shares in the company, valued at approximately $686,000.04. This trade represents a 10.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Peter T. Heilmann sold 5,404 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.36, for a total value of $877,393.44. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 32,952 shares in the company, valued at $5,350,086.72. This trade represents a 14.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 9,646 shares of company stock valued at $1,578,768 in the last 90 days. 2.32% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Matson

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MATX. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in Matson in the second quarter worth approximately $34,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Matson in the second quarter valued at $39,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Matson in the 3rd quarter valued at $50,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Matson during the 2nd quarter worth $79,000. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new stake in shares of Matson during the 3rd quarter worth about $92,000. 84.76% of the stock is currently 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.