Matson (NYSE:MATX) EVP Peter Heilmann Sells 13,000 Shares

Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) EVP Peter Heilmann sold 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.46, for a total transaction of $2,150,980.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 32,679 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,407,067.34. The trade was a 28.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Matson Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of MATX stock traded down $1.29 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $167.24. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 250,014 shares, compared to its average volume of 305,667. Matson, Inc. has a 1-year low of $86.97 and a 1-year high of $177.51. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $150.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $121.20. The company has a market capitalization of $5.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.00 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 (NYSE:MATX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The shipping company reported $4.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.69 by $0.91. The company had revenue of $851.90 million during 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 was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.80 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Matson, Inc. will post 13.27 EPS for the current year.

Matson Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 is Thursday, February 5th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Matson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.33%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Matson

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its position 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 valued at $12,541,000 after buying an additional 34,631 shares during the last quarter. Paradiem LLC boosted its stake in Matson by 27.9% in the third quarter. Paradiem LLC now owns 102,721 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $10,127,000 after acquiring an additional 22,393 shares in the last quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Matson during the third quarter worth about $740,000. Vise Technologies Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Matson during the second quarter worth about $377,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Matson by 2.9% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,250,636 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $123,300,000 after purchasing an additional 35,229 shares in the last quarter. 84.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on MATX shares. Stephens increased their price target on Matson from $190.00 to $213.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $167.00 price objective on shares of Matson in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Matson in a report on Monday, December 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $156.25.

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.