Norges Bank Buys New Position in Matson, Inc. $MATX

Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 139,829 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,276,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Matson by 57.3% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 258 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in Matson by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 29,456 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $3,639,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its stake in Matson by 124.3% in the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 249 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. grew its stake in Matson by 6.1% in the third quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 2,849 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $281,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its stake in Matson by 3.1% in the third quarter. Amundi now owns 5,637 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $557,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. 84.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Zacks Research upgraded Matson to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Matson in a research note on Friday, May 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on Matson in a research note on Monday, April 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $230.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Matson from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Matson currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $181.25.

Matson Stock Performance

MATX opened at $194.60 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $177.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $155.03. The company has a market capitalization of $5.89 billion, a PE ratio of 14.30 and a beta of 1.29. Matson, Inc. has a 1 year low of $86.97 and a 1 year high of $197.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The shipping company reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.18 EPS. Research analysts expect that Matson, Inc. will post 13.96 EPS for the current year.

Matson Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 7th were paid a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 7th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Matson’s payout ratio is 10.58%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Matson news, SVP Laura L. Rascon sold 2,800 shares of Matson stock in a transaction on Monday, June 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.53, for a total value of $527,884.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 15,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,951,625.68. The trade was a 15.17% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Christopher A. Scott sold 1,520 shares of Matson stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.05, for a total value of $275,196.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 9,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,757,633.40. This represents a 13.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 23,963 shares of company stock worth $4,349,268 over the last three months. 2.51% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.