Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) Receives $131.67 Average Target Price from Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts have assigned Matson, Inc. a consensus recommendation of "Hold", with four hold ratings and one buy rating; the average target price is $131.67.
• Matson reported earnings of $2.92 EPS, surpassing estimates, and a revenue of $830.50 million, despite a 2% year-over-year decline.
• The company announced an increase in its quarterly dividend from $0.34 to $0.36 per share, representing a yield of 1.4%.

Shares of Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX - Get Free Report) have received an average rating of "Hold" from the five ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $131.6667.

A number of research firms have commented on MATX. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "hold" rating and issued a $115.00 target price on shares of Matson in a report on Friday, August 1st. Zacks Research upgraded Matson from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Matson

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Matson by 11.7% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,373 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $176,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Matson in the first quarter valued at about $507,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Matson by 91.6% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 61,500 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $7,883,000 after purchasing an additional 29,400 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Matson by 8.9% during the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 96,669 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $12,390,000 after acquiring an additional 7,920 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Matson by 10.9% during the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 461,769 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $59,188,000 after acquiring an additional 45,296 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.76% of the company's stock.

Matson Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of MATX stock traded up $0.57 on Thursday, hitting $104.33. 81,674 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 401,651. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $106.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $110.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.32 billion, a PE ratio of 7.04 and a beta of 1.21. Matson has a twelve month low of $91.75 and a twelve month high of $169.12.

Matson (NYSE:MATX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The shipping company reported $2.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.18 by $0.74. Matson had a net margin of 14.26% and a return on equity of 18.90%. The firm had revenue of $830.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $727.30 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.31 EPS. The company's revenue was down 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Matson will post 13.27 EPS for the current year.

Matson Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 7th were issued a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. This is a positive change from Matson's previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 7th. Matson's payout ratio is currently 9.74%.

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.