Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) Stock Has Average Target Price of $249.25

Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $249.25.

MATX has been the topic of several research reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded Matson from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered Matson from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 22nd. Stephens boosted their price objective on Matson from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Matson from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 13th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Matson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Matson news, SVP Leonard P. Isotoff sold 1,250 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.30, for a total transaction of $260,375.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 6,527 shares in the company, valued at $1,359,574.10. This represents a 16.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Kuuhaku T. Park sold 1,000 shares of Matson stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.49, for a total value of $208,490.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 9,984 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,081,564.16. This trade represents a 9.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 12,462 shares of company stock worth $2,695,832 in the last 90 days. 2.51% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Matson

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MATX. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in Matson by 80.6% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 392 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $86,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Matson by 179.3% in the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,455 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $759,000 after purchasing an additional 2,218 shares during the period. U S Global Investors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Matson during the 3rd quarter valued at $335,000. Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Matson during the 3rd quarter valued at $57,000. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its position in shares of Matson by 16.8% during the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 1,297 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $285,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. 84.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Matson Stock Down 0.1%

Matson stock opened at $228.35 on Friday. Matson has a twelve month low of $93.12 and a twelve month high of $240.87. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $227.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $204.78. The company has a market capitalization of $6.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.26 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

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

Matson Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, November 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 5th. Matson’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.16%.

About Matson

Matson, Inc is a transportation and logistics company that provides ocean shipping and supply chain services. Through its Matson Navigation subsidiary, the company transports containerized and bulk cargo, automobiles and other goods between the U.S. mainland and Hawaii, Alaska, Guam, Micronesia and selected South Pacific destinations. Matson also operates services linking the U.S. West Coast with China, Japan and South Korea.

The company serves a broad range of customers, including retailers, manufacturers, wholesalers, government agencies and individual consumers.