Man Group plc Takes $8.20 Million Position in Matson, Inc. $MATX

Man Group plc bought a new stake in Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 42,643 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,197,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Matson by 3.4% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,402 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $462,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted 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 buying an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake in Matson by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 30,624 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $5,021,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in shares of Matson by 0.7% during the first quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 14,749 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $2,418,000 after buying an additional 107 shares during the period. Finally, Allworth Financial LP acquired a new position in Matson during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. 84.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MATX. Weiss Ratings upgraded Matson from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Matson from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 22nd. Zacks Research raised Matson from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Stephens upped their price target on shares of Matson from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Matson from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and four have assigned a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Matson currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $232.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Matson

In other news, EVP Peter T. Heilmann sold 5,000 shares of Matson stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.15, for a total value of $1,100,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 20,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,514,395.90. This trade represents a 19.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Leonard P. Isotoff sold 1,250 shares of Matson stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.30, for a total value of $260,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 6,527 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,359,574.10. The trade was a 16.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 15,262 shares of company stock worth $3,223,716. Company insiders own 2.51% of the company’s stock.

Matson Trading Up 1.1%

NYSE MATX opened at $224.51 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $6.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.01 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The business’s fifty day moving average is $209.37 and its 200 day moving average is $185.71. Matson, Inc. has a twelve month low of $86.97 and a twelve month high of $230.74.

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

Matson Increases Dividend

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

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.