Jefferies Financial Group Reaffirms "Buy" Rating for Matson (NYSE:MATX)

Matson (NYSE:MATX - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating restated by stock analysts at Jefferies Financial Group in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $135.00 price objective on the shipping company's stock. Jefferies Financial Group's target price would indicate a potential upside of 20.01% from the stock's previous close.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Matson from $160.00 to $130.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen cut Matson from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Stephens lowered their target price on Matson from $175.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $138.33.

Matson Trading Down 1.8%

NYSE:MATX traded down $2.10 on Wednesday, hitting $112.49. The stock had a trading volume of 355,174 shares, compared to its average volume of 346,795. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $107.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $127.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock has a market cap of $3.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.36 and a beta of 1.31. Matson has a 1-year low of $91.75 and a 1-year high of $169.12.

Matson (NYSE:MATX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The shipping company reported $2.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.34 by ($0.16). The business had revenue of $782.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $818.07 million. Matson had a return on equity of 16.89% and a net margin of 12.37%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.04 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Matson will post 13.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Matson news, Director Bradley D. Tilden bought 2,752 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 29th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $111.76 per share, for a total transaction of $307,563.52. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 8,180 shares in the company, valued at $914,196.80. This trade represents a 50.70% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Laura L. Rascon sold 1,700 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.19, for a total value of $200,923.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 14,712 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,738,811.28. This represents a 10.36% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.05% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MATX. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Matson by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 1,766 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $238,000 after buying an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in shares of Matson by 16.3% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 586 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $79,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Matson by 67.7% in 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. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Matson by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 28,170 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $3,798,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ethic Inc. increased its stake in Matson by 2.7% in the first quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 4,092 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $537,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.76% of the company's stock.

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.