London Co. of Virginia Reduces Stake in Matson, Inc. $MATX

London Co. of Virginia reduced its stake in shares of Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 262,201 shares of the shipping company’s stock after selling 9,927 shares during the quarter. London Co. of Virginia owned about 0.84% of Matson worth $25,851,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MATX. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in Matson by 124.3% during the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 249 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Matson during the second quarter worth $28,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. increased its position in Matson by 100.8% during the third quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 510 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming raised its stake in shares of Matson by 482.8% in the third quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 542 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 449 shares during the period. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Matson in the first quarter valued at $78,000. 84.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Matson Stock Up 1.2%

NYSE:MATX opened at $151.60 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $4.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.87 and a beta of 1.32. Matson, Inc. has a twelve month low of $86.97 and a twelve month high of $177.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $155.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $124.39.

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

Matson Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Matson

In other Matson news, SVP Richard S. Kinney sold 5,225 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.32, for a total transaction of $863,797.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 6,746 shares in the company, valued at $1,115,248.72. This trade represents a 43.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Vic S. Angoco, Jr. sold 6,189 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.31, for a total value of $1,023,103.59. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 14,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,446,588. This represents a 29.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 42,550 shares of company stock worth $7,034,602 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on MATX. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Matson in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Stephens increased their price objective on shares of Matson from $190.00 to $213.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $167.00 price objective on shares of Matson in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Matson from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $156.25.

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.