Convergence Investment Partners LLC Purchases New Position in Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX)

Convergence Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 4,561 shares of the shipping company's stock, valued at approximately $585,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MATX. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Matson in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,328,000. Xponance Inc. boosted its stake in Matson by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 2,654 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $358,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its stake in Matson by 37.7% in the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 22,804 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $3,075,000 after acquiring an additional 6,249 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in Matson in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $203,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in Matson by 12.3% in the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 2,552 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $344,000 after acquiring an additional 280 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.76% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MATX. Stephens reduced their price objective on shares of Matson from $175.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Matson from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Matson from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Matson from $160.00 to $130.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $131.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Matson

In other Matson news, SVP Leonard P. Isotoff sold 500 shares of Matson stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.47, for a total value of $55,735.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 5,644 shares in the company, valued at approximately $629,136.68. The trade was a 8.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Bradley D. Tilden purchased 2,752 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 29th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $111.76 per share, for a total transaction of $307,563.52. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 8,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $914,196.80. The trade was a 50.70% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 2.05% of the company's stock.

Matson Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE MATX traded up $0.68 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $109.47. 268,307 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 364,769. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $111.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $120.66. The company has a market capitalization of $3.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.21 and a beta of 1.28. Matson, Inc. has a 12 month low of $91.75 and a 12 month high of $169.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

Matson (NYSE:MATX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The shipping company reported $2.18 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.34 by ($0.16). Matson had a return on equity of 20.02% and a net margin of 14.72%. The company had revenue of $782.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $818.07 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.04 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Matson, Inc. will post 13.27 EPS for the current year.

Matson Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.32%. This is a positive change from Matson's previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 7th. Matson's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.96%.

About Matson

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.