Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) Receives $156.25 Average PT from Analysts

Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the six research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $156.25.

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Matson from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Matson in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $167.00 price objective on shares of Matson in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Stephens raised their price objective on shares of Matson from $190.00 to $213.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Matson news, EVP Peter T. Heilmann sold 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.46, for a total value of $2,150,980.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 32,679 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,407,067.34. This represents a 28.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Kuuhaku T. Park sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.79, for a total value of $339,580.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 13,484 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,289,448.36. The trade was a 12.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 42,550 shares of company stock valued at $7,034,602 in the last ninety days. 2.51% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Matson

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MATX. Danske Bank A S bought a new stake in shares of Matson in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in Matson by 124.3% during the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 249 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. SouthState Bank Corp acquired a new position in Matson in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Matson in the second quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Matson by 57.3% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 258 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. 84.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Matson Stock Up 1.2%

NYSE MATX opened at $151.60 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.87 and a beta of 1.32. Matson has a 52 week low of $86.97 and a 52 week high of $177.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.89. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $155.85 and a 200-day moving average of $124.39.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The shipping company reported $4.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.69 by $0.91. The business had revenue of $851.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $847.30 million. Matson had a return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 13.30%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.80 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Matson will post 13.27 EPS for the current year.

Matson Dividend Announcement

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

Matson Company 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.