Matson (NYSE:MATX) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Stifel Nicolaus Analyst Says

Matson (NYSE:MATX) had its price objective hoisted by research analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $150.00 to $160.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “hold” rating on the shipping company’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price target suggests a potential upside of 13.84% from the company’s previous close.

MATX has been the subject of a number of other reports. Wolfe Research cut shares of Matson from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Matson in a report on Thursday, January 2nd.

Matson Trading Down 2.2 %

Matson stock opened at $140.55 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $139.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $141.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.67 billion, a PE ratio of 11.69 and a beta of 1.05. Matson has a 12-month low of $100.50 and a 12-month high of $169.12.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The shipping company reported $3.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.20 by $0.60. The business had revenue of $890.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $851.78 million. Matson had a net margin of 12.37% and a return on equity of 16.89%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Matson will post 13.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Matson

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MATX. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Matson by 4,167,726.1% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 958,600 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $136,716,000 after purchasing an additional 958,577 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Matson in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,016,000. Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC acquired a new position in Matson in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,897,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Matson by 73.9% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 416,473 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $56,157,000 after purchasing an additional 177,000 shares during the period. Finally, Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new position in Matson in the 4th quarter worth approximately $20,204,000. Hedge funds and other 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.