Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Has $14.66 Million Position in Matson, Inc. $MATX

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lessened its stake in shares of Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) by 6.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 118,636 shares of the shipping company’s stock after selling 8,572 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC owned 0.38% of Matson worth $14,657,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Matson by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,250,636 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $123,300,000 after buying an additional 35,229 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Matson by 27.9% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 590,763 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $65,770,000 after acquiring an additional 128,994 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in Matson by 144.9% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 455,133 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $44,872,000 after acquiring an additional 269,310 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Matson during the third quarter valued at about $26,415,000. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its holdings in Matson by 1.8% during the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 220,462 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $21,735,000 after acquiring an additional 3,817 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on MATX. Wall Street Zen lowered Matson from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 15th. Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $167.00 target price on shares of Matson in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Matson in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Stephens upped their price target on Matson from $190.00 to $213.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $156.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at Matson

In other Matson news, EVP John P. Lauer sold 8,603 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.13, for a total value of $1,429,216.39. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 23,738 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,943,593.94. The trade was a 26.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Kuuhaku T. Park sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.79, for a total transaction of $339,580.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 13,484 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,289,448.36. This represents a 12.92% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 42,550 shares of company stock valued at $7,034,602 in the last quarter. 2.51% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Matson Stock Performance

NYSE:MATX opened at $157.97 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $160.32 and its 200-day moving average is $127.56. The company has a market cap of $4.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.33 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.89. Matson, Inc. has a 52-week low of $86.97 and a 52-week high of $177.51.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The shipping company reported $4.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.69 by $0.91. Matson had a net margin of 13.30% and a return on equity of 16.63%. The business had revenue of $851.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $847.30 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.80 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Matson, Inc. will post 13.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Matson Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 5th were issued a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 5th. Matson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.33%.

Matson Profile

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.