JPMorgan Chase & Co. Sells 77,552 Shares of Matson, Inc. $MATX

JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered its stake in shares of Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) by 32.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 159,461 shares of the shipping company’s stock after selling 77,552 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Matson were worth $15,721,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Matson by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,215,407 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $135,336,000 after buying an additional 56,573 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 128,994 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management increased its holdings in shares of Matson by 6.5% during the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 317,422 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $35,345,000 after acquiring an additional 19,508 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its position in shares of Matson by 79.3% during the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 216,645 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $24,123,000 after purchasing an additional 95,796 shares during the period. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its holdings in shares of Matson by 37.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 127,208 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $12,541,000 after purchasing an additional 34,631 shares in the last quarter. 84.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on MATX. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Matson in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Stephens boosted their target price on shares of Matson from $190.00 to $213.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $167.00 price target on shares of Matson in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Matson has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $156.25.

Matson Stock Performance

NYSE MATX opened at $168.37 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $150.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $121.20. The firm has a market cap of $5.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.08 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Matson, Inc. has a 1 year low of $86.97 and a 1 year high of $177.51.

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. The business had revenue of $851.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $847.30 million. Matson had a net margin of 13.30% and a return on equity of 16.63%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.80 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Matson, Inc. will post 13.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Matson Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 5th. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Matson’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.33%.

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.