Denali Advisors LLC Acquires New Holdings in Matson, Inc. $MATX

Denali Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 21,250 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,085,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MATX. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Matson in the second quarter valued at approximately $952,903,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Matson by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,671,519 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $453,616,000 after purchasing an additional 21,516 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Matson by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,982,793 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $244,975,000 after purchasing an additional 21,463 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Matson by 27.9% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 590,763 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $65,770,000 after purchasing an additional 128,994 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Matson by 144.9% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 455,133 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $44,872,000 after buying an additional 269,310 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.76% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Matson news, SVP John Warren Sullivan sold 1,917 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.49, for a total value of $399,675.33. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 7,630 shares in the company, valued at $1,590,778.70. This trade represents a 20.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Laura L. Rascon sold 2,800 shares of Matson stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.53, for a total transaction 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 approximately $2,951,625.68. This trade represents a 15.17% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 8,569 shares of company stock valued at $1,700,521 in the last ninety days. 2.51% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MATX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Matson from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings raised Matson from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Matson from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Zacks Research raised shares of Matson from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Stephens increased their target price on shares of Matson from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and four have issued a Buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Matson has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $232.33.

Matson Price Performance

NYSE:MATX opened at $218.75 on Thursday. Matson, Inc. has a 52-week low of $86.97 and a 52-week high of $230.74. The company has a market cap of $6.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.62 and a beta of 1.27. 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’s 50-day simple moving average is $205.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $182.96.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The shipping company reported $4.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.79 by $0.48. The firm had revenue of $969.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $893.91 million. Matson had a return on equity of 16.94% and a net margin of 13.41%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.92 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Matson, Inc. will post 16.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Matson Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 6th will be issued a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 6th. This is a boost from Matson’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. Matson’s payout ratio is currently 10.16%.

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.