Credit Agricole S A Grows Stock Position in Matson, Inc. $MATX

Key Points

• Credit Agricole S A boosted its holdings in Matson, Inc. by 93.8% during the first quarter, reaching a total of 14,121 shares valued at approximately $1.81 million.
• Matson recently reported $2.92 EPS, significantly surpassing analysts' estimates of $2.18, although its revenue was down 2% year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.36 per share from the previous $0.34, reflecting a 1.4% dividend yield.

Credit Agricole S A lifted its holdings in shares of Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX - Free Report) by 93.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,121 shares of the shipping company's stock after buying an additional 6,833 shares during the period. Credit Agricole S A's holdings in Matson were worth $1,810,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S raised its position in Matson by 1,178.0% in the first quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 51,811 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $6,641,000 after acquiring an additional 47,757 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its stake in shares of Matson by 53.8% during the 1st quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 17,211 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $2,202,000 after purchasing an additional 6,021 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Matson by 1.0% in the first quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 603,634 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $77,368,000 after purchasing an additional 6,135 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in shares of Matson in the first quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Matson by 91.6% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 61,500 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $7,883,000 after buying an additional 29,400 shares in the last quarter. 84.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on MATX shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Matson from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "hold" rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of Matson in a report on Friday, August 1st. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Matson from $160.00 to $130.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Stephens decreased their target price on Matson from $175.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $131.67.

Matson Price Performance

Matson stock traded down $1.37 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $104.08. 347,450 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 368,172. Matson, Inc. has a 12-month low of $91.75 and a 12-month high of $169.12. The company has a market capitalization of $3.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.04 and a beta of 1.22. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $108.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $115.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78.

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

Matson Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 7th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. This is an increase from Matson's previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Matson's dividend payout ratio is 9.74%.

Insider Activity at Matson

In other news, SVP Christopher A. Scott sold 1,044 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.94, for a total value of $114,777.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 13,441 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,477,703.54. The trade was a 7.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 2.05% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.