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

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Matson (NYSE:MATX) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Wednesday morning.

Separately, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Matson from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st.

Matson Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE MATX opened at $105.48 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.59 and a beta of 1.12. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $108.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $105.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07. Matson has a 52-week low of $62.71 and a 52-week high of $122.99.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The shipping company reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $722.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $730.44 million. Matson had a net margin of 9.60% and a return on equity of 12.71%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.94 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Matson will post 8.2 EPS for the current year.

Matson Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 9th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 8th. Matson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.27%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Christopher A. Scott sold 1,171 shares of the company’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 owns 12,958 shares in the company, valued at $1,397,261.14. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.32% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Matson

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Matson by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 9,379 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $1,028,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. lifted its position in shares of Matson by 5.8% in the first quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. now owns 2,089 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $229,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Matson by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. now owns 997 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $109,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its position in Matson by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 7,862 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $862,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC raised its position in Matson by 6.4% during the first quarter. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC now owns 2,332 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $262,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.76% of the company’s stock.

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.