Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) Short Interest Down 6.0% in October

Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 827,700 shares, a decline of 6.0% from the October 15th total of 880,900 shares. Currently, 2.4% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 188,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.4 days.

Matson Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE MATX opened at $95.10 on Friday. Matson has a 52-week low of $56.51 and a 52-week high of $97.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11. The business has a fifty day moving average of $89.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $83.17. The stock has a market cap of $3.34 billion, a PE ratio of 10.93 and a beta of 1.18.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 30th. The shipping company reported $3.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.36 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $827.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $798.86 million. Matson had a net margin of 10.06% and a return on equity of 13.53%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 25.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $6.89 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Matson will post 7.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Matson Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 8th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.35%. Matson’s dividend payout ratio is 14.71%.

Insider Transactions at Matson

In related news, SVP Kuuhaku T. Park sold 2,318 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.49, for a total transaction of $205,119.82. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,526 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,019,935.74. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Kuuhaku T. Park sold 2,318 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.49, for a total transaction of $205,119.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,526 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,019,935.74. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Vic S. Angoco, Jr. sold 11,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.52, for a total transaction of $1,040,980.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 23,693 shares in the company, valued at $2,144,690.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 24,168 shares of company stock worth $2,160,106. Company insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Matson

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Matson by 3.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,655,892 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $561,594,000 after buying an additional 153,723 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Matson by 1.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,585,943 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $201,007,000 after acquiring an additional 36,517 shares during the last quarter. ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Matson by 18.2% during the second quarter. ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC now owns 2,197,588 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $170,819,000 after purchasing an additional 338,940 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of Matson by 6.2% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 2,104,874 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $253,890,000 after purchasing an additional 122,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Matson by 4.4% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 718,152 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $42,852,000 after purchasing an additional 30,494 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.04% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Stephens lifted their price objective on Matson from $73.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 2nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Matson from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 1st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Matson from $90.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 24th. Finally, Wolfe Research upped their target price on shares of Matson from $113.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 24th.

Matson Company Profile

Matson, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides ocean transportation and logistics services. The company's Ocean Transportation segment offers ocean freight transportation services to the domestic non-contiguous economies of Hawaii, Alaska, and Guam, as well as to other island economies in Micronesia.