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

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 raised their price objective on shares of Matson from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st.

Matson Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of MATX stock opened at $108.86 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.99 and a beta of 1.12. Matson has a one year low of $60.30 and a one year high of $122.99. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $111.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $103.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The shipping company reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $788.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $733.60 million. Matson had a net margin of 9.60% and a return on equity of 12.71%. The company’s revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.10 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Matson will post 8.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Matson Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 8th were issued a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 7th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.18%. Matson’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Matson

In other Matson news, SVP Christopher A. Scott sold 1,171 shares of Matson stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,397,261.14. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.32% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Matson

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

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.