Matson (NYSE:MATX) Upgraded to “Buy” by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Matson (NYSE:MATX) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Saturday.

Separately, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Matson from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st.

Matson Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:MATX opened at $106.22 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.66 billion, a PE ratio of 12.68 and a beta of 1.12. Matson has a 1 year low of $61.51 and a 1 year high of $122.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $110.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $104.74.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The shipping company reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $788.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $733.60 million. Matson had a net margin of 9.60% and a return on equity of 12.71%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.10 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Matson will post 8.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Matson Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 8th were paid a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 7th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.21%. Matson’s payout ratio is 15.27%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Christopher A. Scott sold 1,171 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.83, for a total value of $126,268.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,397,261.14. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 2.32% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Matson

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MATX. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in Matson during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,569,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in Matson by 78.5% during the 2nd quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 449,441 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $34,935,000 after acquiring an additional 197,658 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management lifted its stake in Matson by 450.4% in the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 239,439 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $26,243,000 after purchasing an additional 195,939 shares in the last quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC bought a new position in Matson in the 3rd quarter valued at $14,074,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Matson by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,655,892 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $561,594,000 after purchasing an additional 153,723 shares in the last quarter. 84.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Matson

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.