William Blair Investment Management LLC Trims Position in Matson, Inc. $MATX

William Blair Investment Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) by 9.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 161,560 shares of the shipping company’s stock after selling 16,595 shares during the quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Matson were worth $19,961,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in MATX. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 269,310 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Matson during the 3rd quarter worth $26,415,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Matson by 27.9% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 590,763 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $65,770,000 after purchasing an additional 128,994 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP purchased a new position in shares of Matson during the 3rd quarter worth $9,503,000. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Matson by 79.3% during the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 216,645 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $24,123,000 after purchasing an additional 95,796 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Matson

In related news, SVP Kuuhaku T. Park sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.19, for a total value of $450,475.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 10,984 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,979,206.96. This represents a 18.54% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Laura L. Rascon sold 540 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.83, for a total value of $97,648.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 18,456 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,337,398.48. This represents a 2.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 62,513 shares of company stock worth $10,635,702. 2.51% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MATX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on Matson in a research note on Monday, April 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $230.00 price target on the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded Matson from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, March 15th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Matson to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $181.25.

Matson Trading Down 0.1%

MATX stock opened at $181.67 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $5.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.35 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $171.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $148.88. Matson, Inc. has a 52 week low of $86.97 and a 52 week high of $190.00.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The shipping company reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $757.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $777.55 million. Matson had a return on equity of 15.90% and a net margin of 12.92%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.18 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Matson, Inc. will post 13.96 EPS for the current year.

Matson Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 7th. Matson’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.58%.

About Matson

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.