Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Acquires 4,328 Shares of Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its holdings in Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX - Free Report) by 6.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 76,918 shares of the shipping company's stock after acquiring an additional 4,328 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC owned 0.23% of Matson worth $9,859,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Matson in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,016,000. Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC purchased a new stake in Matson in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,897,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Matson by 73.9% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 416,473 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $56,157,000 after buying an additional 177,000 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Matson by 14,218.7% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 175,977 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $22,555,000 after buying an additional 174,748 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in Matson in the 4th quarter valued at about $20,204,000. Institutional investors own 84.76% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on MATX. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Matson from $160.00 to $130.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Stephens decreased their price target on shares of Matson from $175.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Matson from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Matson from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Matson currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $138.33.

Matson Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of MATX stock opened at $112.89 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $107.88 and a 200-day moving average of $128.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Matson, Inc. has a 12-month low of $91.75 and a 12-month high of $169.12. The firm has a market cap of $3.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.39 and a beta of 1.31.

Matson (NYSE:MATX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The shipping company reported $2.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.34 by ($0.16). Matson had a return on equity of 16.89% and a net margin of 12.37%. The company had revenue of $782.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $818.07 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.04 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Matson, Inc. will post 13.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Matson Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 8th were paid a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 8th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.20%. Matson's dividend payout ratio is 8.96%.

Insider Activity at Matson

In other news, SVP Laura L. Rascon sold 1,700 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.19, for a total transaction of $200,923.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 14,712 shares in the company, valued at $1,738,811.28. The trade was a 10.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Leonard P. Isotoff sold 500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.47, for a total transaction of $55,735.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 5,644 shares of the company's stock, valued at $629,136.68. This trade represents a 8.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.05% of the stock is 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.

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