Matson Inc. (MATX) Upgraded to “Buy” at Zacks Investment Research

Matson Inc. (NYSE:MATX) was upgraded by Zacks Investment Research from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday. The brokerage presently has a $41.00 price target on the stock. Zacks Investment Research’s price target points to a potential upside of 11.99% from the stock’s previous close.

According to Zacks, “Matson, Inc. operates as an ocean transportation and logistics company. It offers shipping services in Hawaii, Guam, and Micronesia islands and expedited service from China to southern California. The company’s logistics services consist of rail intermodal service, long haul and regional highway truckload services, less-than-truckload transportation, specialized hauling, flatbed, and project works, warehousing and distribution services, transloading, cross-dock services, and packaging services, and network analysis and freight management services. Matson, Inc., formerly known as Alexander & Baldwin Holdings, Inc., is headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii. “

Matson (NYSE:MATX) traded up 0.27% during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $36.61. The company had a trading volume of 177,638 shares. Matson has a 52 week low of $30.54 and a 52 week high of $53.18. The company has a market capitalization of $1.58 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.79. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $33.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.44.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 4th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $454.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $475.34 million. The company’s revenue was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.57 EPS. Analysts expect that Matson will post $2.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.19 per share. This is an increase from Matson’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 2nd. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.08%.

A number of large investors recently made changes to their positions in MATX. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Matson by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,106,597 shares of the company’s stock worth $132,435,000 after buying an additional 62,401 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Matson by 14.4% in the fourth quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 64,050 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,730,000 after buying an additional 8,050 shares in the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP bought a new stake in shares of Matson during the fourth quarter worth $1,168,000. Globeflex Capital L P raised its stake in shares of Matson by 30.2% in the fourth quarter. Globeflex Capital L P now owns 88,592 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,777,000 after buying an additional 20,569 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Matson by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 770,264 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,836,000 after buying an additional 21,150 shares in the last quarter.

Matson Inc is a transportation company in the Marine industry.