Matson’s (MATX) Hold Rating Reiterated at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group restated their hold rating on shares of Matson (NYSE:MATX) in a research report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $115.00 target price on the shipping company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen lowered Matson from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Matson from $160.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Stephens decreased their target price on Matson from $175.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $131.67.

Matson Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of MATX stock opened at $108.43 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $111.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $119.39. Matson has a 1-year low of $91.75 and a 1-year high of $169.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.54 billion, a PE ratio of 7.33 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The shipping company reported $2.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.18 by $0.74. Matson had a return on equity of 18.90% and a net margin of 14.26%. The firm had revenue of $830.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $727.30 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.31 earnings per share. Matson’s quarterly revenue was down 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Matson will post 13.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Matson Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 7th will be issued a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. This is a positive change from Matson’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 7th. Matson’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.20%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Matson

In other news, Director Bradley D. Tilden bought 2,752 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 29th. The shares were bought at an average price of $111.76 per share, with a total value of $307,563.52. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 8,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $914,196.80. This trade represents a 50.70% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Leonard P. Isotoff sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.47, for a total value of $55,735.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 5,644 shares in the company, valued at $629,136.68. This represents a 8.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.05% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Matson

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MATX. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Matson by 67.7% during the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 213 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Matson during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in shares of Matson during the first quarter valued at $34,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Matson during the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, State of Wyoming boosted its stake in shares of Matson by 495.3% during the first quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 381 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.