Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Buys New Holdings in Matson, Inc. $MATX

Key Points

• Louisiana State Employees Retirement System opened a new position in Matson, buying 13,800 shares valued at about $2.26 million in the first quarter. Institutional ownership remains high, with hedge funds and other institutions holding 84.76% of the stock.
• Analysts are mixed on Matson: the stock currently has a Moderate Buy consensus with an average price target of $181.25, though JPMorgan initiated coverage with an Overweight rating and a $230 target.
• Matson recently reported Q1 EPS of $1.85, beating estimates, and also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.38 per share from $0.36. Meanwhile, insiders have sold shares in recent months, including two senior vice presidents.

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in shares of Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 13,800 shares of the shipping company's stock, valued at approximately $2,262,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MATX. Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in shares of Matson in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Matson in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC acquired a new position in Matson during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. SouthState Bank Corp acquired a new position in Matson during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Matson by 57.3% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 258 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 94 shares during the period. 84.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of Matson to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Matson in a report on Friday, May 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of Matson in a research report on Monday, April 27th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $230.00 price target for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Matson from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, March 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $181.25.

Insider Transactions at Matson

In other Matson news, SVP Grace M. Cerocke sold 1,200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.57, for a total transaction of $220,284.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 17,986 shares in the company, valued at $3,301,690.02. This represents a 6.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Kuuhaku T. Park sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.19, for a total value of $450,475.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 10,984 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,979,206.96. This represents a 18.54% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 23,963 shares of company stock valued at $4,349,268 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 2.51% of the company's stock.

Matson Stock Performance

Matson stock opened at $195.26 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $185.38 and a 200-day moving average of $163.41. The stock has a market cap of $5.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.35 and a beta of 1.29. Matson, Inc. has a 52 week low of $86.97 and a 52 week high of $203.08.

Matson (NYSE:MATX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The shipping company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $757.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $777.55 million. Matson had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 15.90%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.18 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Matson, Inc. will post 13.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Matson Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 6th will be paid a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. This is a positive change from Matson's previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 6th. Matson's payout ratio is 10.58%.

Matson Company Profile

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.

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