Paloma Partners Management Co Takes Position in Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX)

Paloma Partners Management Co purchased a new stake in shares of Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 7,787 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $875,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Matson by 4.7% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 27,204 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $3,058,000 after buying an additional 1,214 shares during the period. BOKF NA increased its stake in shares of Matson by 88.2% during the first quarter. BOKF NA now owns 3,446 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $384,000 after buying an additional 1,615 shares during the period. Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new stake in Matson during the first quarter valued at about $542,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new stake in Matson during the first quarter valued at about $1,349,000. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its position in Matson by 4.0% during the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 27,594 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $3,098,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MATX. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective 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 price objective 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.

Insider Transactions at Matson

In related news, CEO Matthew J. Cox sold 7,843 shares of Matson stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.54, for a total transaction of $1,023,825.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 230,397 shares in the company, valued at $30,076,024.38. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Matthew J. Cox sold 7,843 shares of Matson stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.54, for a total transaction of $1,023,825.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 230,397 shares in the company, valued at $30,076,024.38. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Joel M. Wine sold 8,941 shares of Matson stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.80, for a total value of $1,151,600.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 151,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,491,175.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,624 shares of company stock worth $8,447,299 over the last three months. 2.32% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Matson Stock Up 1.3 %

NYSE MATX traded up $1.63 during trading on Monday, hitting $131.99. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 320,705 shares, compared to its average volume of 267,864. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The company has a market cap of $4.61 billion, a PE ratio of 15.52 and a beta of 1.09. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $125.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $116.52. Matson, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $82.68 and a fifty-two week high of $133.88.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The shipping company reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 analysts’ expectations of $730.44 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.94 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Matson, Inc. will post 10.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Matson Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 1st will be paid a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.03%. This is a boost from Matson’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 1st. Matson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.09%.

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.