Matson (NYSE:MATX) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Matson (NYSE:MATX) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning.

MATX has been the topic of several other research reports. Stephens reissued an overweight rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Matson in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Matson from $109.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st.

Matson Stock Performance

MATX stock opened at $128.99 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $117.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $113.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $4.51 billion, a PE ratio of 15.21 and a beta of 1.11. Matson has a 1-year low of $74.04 and a 1-year high of $133.53.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The shipping company reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $730.44 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.94 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Matson will post 10.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Matson Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 9th were given a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 8th. Matson’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.09%.

Insider Activity at Matson

In related news, SVP Richard S. Kinney sold 1,792 shares of Matson stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.11, for a total transaction of $206,277.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,588 shares in the company, valued at $1,103,674.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, SVP Richard S. Kinney sold 1,792 shares of Matson stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.11, for a total transaction of $206,277.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,588 shares in the company, valued at $1,103,674.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Leonard P. Isotoff sold 2,800 shares of Matson stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.48, for a total value of $314,944.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $533,830.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 5,485 shares of company stock valued at $619,987. 2.32% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Matson

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new stake in shares of Matson during the first quarter worth approximately $71,000. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Matson by 8.7% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 21,271 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $2,391,000 after buying an additional 1,700 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LP boosted its stake in shares of Matson by 283.4% in the first quarter. Caxton Associates LP now owns 8,232 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $925,000 after buying an additional 6,085 shares during the period. Paloma Partners Management Co bought a new stake in shares of Matson in the first quarter valued at approximately $875,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Matson by 4.7% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 27,204 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $3,058,000 after buying an additional 1,214 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.76% of the company’s stock.

Matson Company Profile

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.