Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX – Get Rating)’s share price dropped 5.3% on Friday after Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on the stock from $73.00 to $70.00. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a hold rating on the stock. Matson traded as low as $65.89 and last traded at $65.97. Approximately 139,780 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 55% from the average daily volume of 312,011 shares. The stock had previously closed at $69.66.
A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on MATX. Stephens reduced their price objective on shares of Matson from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 22nd. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Matson in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company.
Insider Activity
In other Matson news, Director Mark H. Fukunaga bought 1,573 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 16th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $63.59 per share, for a total transaction of $100,027.07. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 24,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,545,046.23. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Matson news, Director Mark H. Fukunaga bought 1,573 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 16th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $63.59 per share, for a total transaction of $100,027.07. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 24,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,545,046.23. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Matthew J. Cox sold 6,181 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.43, for a total transaction of $373,517.83. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 280,086 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,925,596.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Matson by 55.4% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 9,779 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $1,180,000 after purchasing an additional 3,485 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its position in Matson by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 4,745 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $572,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC purchased a new position in Matson during the 1st quarter worth $473,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. purchased a new stake in shares of Matson in the first quarter valued at about $231,000. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Matson by 49.4% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 22,040 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $2,658,000 after acquiring an additional 7,283 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.55% of the company’s stock.
Matson Price Performance
The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.31 and a quick ratio of 1.31. The company’s 50 day moving average is $63.39 and its 200 day moving average is $64.84. The stock has a market cap of $2.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.16.
Matson (NYSE:MATX – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 21st. The shipping company reported $2.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.97 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $801.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $801.22 million. Matson had a net margin of 24.50% and a return on equity of 49.26%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 36.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $9.39 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Matson, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Matson Announces Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 9th were paid a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 8th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.88%. Matson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4.64%.
Matson Company Profile
Matson, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of logistics and transportation services. It operates through the Ocean Transportation and Logistics segments. The Ocean Transportation segment offers ocean freight transportation, container stevedoring, refrigerated cargo services, inland transportation, and other terminal services.