Matson (NYSE:MATX) EVP Sells $2,150,980.00 in Stock

Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) EVP Peter Heilmann sold 13,000 shares of Matson stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.46, for a total value of $2,150,980.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 32,679 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,407,067.34. The trade was a 28.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Matson Trading Down 3.7%

NYSE MATX opened at $152.94 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $152.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $122.11. Matson, Inc. has a 12 month low of $86.97 and a 12 month high of $177.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.97 and a beta of 1.32.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The shipping company reported $4.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.69 by $0.91. Matson had a net margin of 13.30% and a return on equity of 16.63%. The business had revenue of $851.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $847.30 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.80 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, 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 was paid on Thursday, March 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 5th were issued a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 5th. Matson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.33%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Matson

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in Matson by 144.9% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 455,133 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $44,872,000 after purchasing an additional 269,310 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Matson in the third quarter worth $26,415,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Matson in the fourth quarter worth $17,276,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Matson by 27.9% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 590,763 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $65,770,000 after buying an additional 128,994 shares during the period. Finally, Royce & Associates LP bought a new stake in Matson during the third quarter valued at $9,503,000. 84.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MATX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Stephens upped their price objective on Matson from $190.00 to $213.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Matson in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $167.00 target price on shares of Matson in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Matson from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $156.25.

Matson Company Profile

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.