Matson, Inc. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.32 (NYSE:MATX)

Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 25th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 9th will be given a dividend of 0.32 per share by the shipping company on Thursday, June 6th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 8th.

Matson has increased its dividend by an average of 11.9% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 12 years. Matson has a payout ratio of 14.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Matson to earn $7.91 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.28 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 16.2%.

Matson Stock Down 1.4 %

MATX stock opened at $111.81 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $108.69 and a 200-day moving average of $106.38. Matson has a fifty-two week low of $64.21 and a fifty-two week high of $122.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.19 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.97.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The shipping company reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.05. Matson had a return on equity of 12.66% and a net margin of 9.61%. The firm had revenue of $722.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $730.44 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.94 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Matson will post 8.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Matson from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Matson from $109.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Christopher A. Scott sold 1,171 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.83, for a total value of $126,268.93. Following the completion of 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 2.32% of the company’s stock.

About Matson

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.