Matson (NYSE:MATX) Rating Increased to Hold at Zacks Research

Matson (NYSE:MATX) was upgraded by research analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Matson in a report on Friday, August 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $131.67.

Matson Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of MATX opened at $106.16 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $106.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $111.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.18 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Matson has a 1-year low of $91.75 and a 1-year high of $169.12.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The shipping company reported $2.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.18 by $0.74. Matson had a return on equity of 18.90% and a net margin of 14.26%.The firm had revenue of $830.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $727.30 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.31 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Matson will post 13.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Christopher A. Scott sold 1,044 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.94, for a total transaction of $114,777.36. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 13,441 shares in the company, valued at $1,477,703.54. This represents a 7.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 2.05% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in shares of Matson by 424.8% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 958,170 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $121,428,000 after purchasing an additional 775,600 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Matson in the 2nd quarter valued at about $21,037,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Matson during the first quarter worth $23,325,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Matson by 14,218.7% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 175,977 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $22,555,000 after purchasing an additional 174,748 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 128,994 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.76% of the company’s stock.

Matson Company Profile

Matson, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of ocean transportation and logistics services. It operates through two segments, Ocean Transportation and Logistics. The Ocean Transportation segment offers ocean freight transportation services to the domestic non-contiguous economies of Hawaii, Japan, Alaska, and Guam, as well as to other island economies in Micronesia.