Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) Plans $0.32 Quarterly Dividend

Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 25th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Thursday, May 9th will be given a dividend of 0.32 per share by the shipping company on Thursday, June 6th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 8th.

Matson has increased its dividend payment by an average of 11.9% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 12 consecutive years. Matson has a dividend payout ratio of 14.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Matson to earn $7.81 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.28 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 16.4%.

Matson Trading Down 0.7 %

Matson stock traded down $0.78 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $108.94. 171,616 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 198,083. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $109.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $105.40. Matson has a 52 week low of $62.71 and a 52 week high of $122.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.76 billion, a PE ratio of 13.00 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Matson (NYSE:MATX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The shipping company reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $788.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $733.60 million. Matson had a net margin of 9.60% and a return on equity of 12.71%. Matson's quarterly revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.10 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Matson will post 8.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on MATX shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Matson from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Matson from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, April 20th.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Christopher A. Scott sold 1,171 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.83, for a total value of $126,268.93. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,958 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,397,261.14. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.32% 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.