Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Trims Stock Holdings in Matson, Inc. $MATX

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lowered its stake in Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) by 52.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,570 shares of the shipping company’s stock after selling 5,024 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Matson were worth $451,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in Matson by 67.1% during the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 254 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Matson in the second quarter worth $28,000. IFP Advisors Inc increased its stake in shares of Matson by 42.6% in the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 442 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Matson during the 1st quarter valued at $78,000. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its stake in shares of Matson by 19.1% during the 2nd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 749 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $83,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. 84.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MATX. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $167.00 price target on shares of Matson in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Matson in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Stephens boosted their price target on Matson from $190.00 to $213.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Matson currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $156.25.

Matson Stock Down 0.9%

NYSE MATX opened at $158.91 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $123.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $110.76. Matson, Inc. has a one year low of $86.97 and a one year high of $162.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.83. The company has a market capitalization of $4.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.09 and a beta of 1.33.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The shipping company reported $4.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.25 by $0.99. Matson had a net margin of 12.70% and a return on equity of 16.23%. The company had revenue of $880.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $837.72 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.89 earnings per share. Matson’s revenue was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Matson, Inc. will post 13.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Matson Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 5th will be issued a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 5th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Matson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.96%.

About Matson

Matson, Inc (NYSE: MATX) is a U.S.-based provider of ocean transportation and supply chain logistics services with a focus on Pacific trade lanes. The company operates a fleet of container ships that regularly service Hawaii, Alaska, Guam, Micronesia and other Pacific islands, as well as mainland U.S. ports. Matson’s ocean transportation segment offers scheduled liner services, expedited shipping options and specialized project cargo handling for industries ranging from retail to heavy machinery.

In addition to its core liner operations, Matson offers ocean transportation services between Asia and the U.S.