Matson (NYSE:MATX) Rating Increased to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Matson (NYSE:MATX) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Wednesday morning.

Separately, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Matson from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st.

Matson Stock Performance

Shares of Matson stock opened at $113.36 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $108.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $106.08. The firm has a market cap of $3.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.37 and a beta of 1.12. Matson has a 12 month low of $62.71 and a 12 month high of $122.99.

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

Matson Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 9th will be given a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 8th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.13%. Matson’s payout ratio is 15.09%.

Insider Activity at Matson

In other Matson news, SVP Christopher A. Scott sold 1,171 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was 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 owns 12,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,397,261.14. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.32% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Matson during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. USA Financial Formulas purchased a new position in Matson in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Security National Bank acquired a new stake in Matson during the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in Matson by 109.6% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 415 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Evermay Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Matson in the fourth quarter valued at about $66,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.76% 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.