Vanguard Group Inc. Trims Stock Position in Matson, Inc. $MATX

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its stake in Matson, Inc. by 0.9% in Q1, owning 3,988,504 shares valued at $511 million after selling 36,704 shares.
• Matson recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.36, up from $0.34, representing a 1.4% yield with a payout ratio of 9.74%.
• Despite reporting earnings of $2.92 per share, Matson's Q2 revenue fell 2% year-over-year and analysts expect the company to post 13.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vanguard Group Inc. trimmed its position in Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX - Free Report) by 0.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,988,504 shares of the shipping company's stock after selling 36,704 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 12.15% of Matson worth $511,207,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MATX. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its position in shares of Matson by 20.0% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 26,929 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $3,631,000 after acquiring an additional 4,490 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Matson by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 88,749 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $11,967,000 after purchasing an additional 6,159 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in shares of Matson by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 5,890 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $794,000 after acquiring an additional 283 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Matson during the 4th quarter valued at about $4,328,000. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Matson by 67.7% during the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 213 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.76% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MATX shares. Stephens dropped their target price on shares of Matson from $175.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "hold" rating and set a $115.00 price target on shares of Matson in a report on Friday, August 1st. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Matson from $160.00 to $130.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Matson from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $131.67.

Matson Stock Performance

Matson stock traded up $1.92 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $107.10. 21,432 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 409,253. The company has a market capitalization of $3.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.24 and a beta of 1.22. Matson, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $91.75 and a fifty-two week high of $169.12. The firm's fifty day moving average is $110.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $117.03. 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 results on Thursday, July 31st. The shipping company reported $2.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.18 by $0.74. The company 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%. Matson's revenue for the quarter was down 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.31 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Matson, Inc. will post 13.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Matson Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 7th will be paid a $0.36 dividend. This is a boost from Matson's previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 7th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Matson's dividend payout ratio is 9.74%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Leonard P. Isotoff sold 500 shares of Matson stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.47, for a total value of $55,735.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 5,644 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $629,136.68. The trade was a 8.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Christopher A. Scott sold 1,044 shares of Matson stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 13,441 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,477,703.54. This represents a 7.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.05% of the company's stock.

Matson Company Profile

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.