Advisors Preferred LLC Takes $1.96 Million Position in Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX)

Advisors Preferred LLC purchased a new stake in Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 17,352 shares of the shipping company's stock, valued at approximately $1,958,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Evergreen Capital Management LLC increased its position in Matson by 4.0% during the first quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 2,995 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $361,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. increased its position in Matson by 13.4% during the fourth quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. now owns 997 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $109,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its position in Matson by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 7,862 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $862,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC increased its position in Matson by 1.0% during the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 14,487 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $1,285,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Matson by 4.1% during the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,899 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $284,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.76% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Matson

In related news, SVP Christopher A. Scott sold 1,171 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.83, for a total transaction of $126,268.93. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,958 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,397,261.14. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.32% of the company's stock.

Matson Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of Matson stock traded up $1.37 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $111.47. The company's stock had a trading volume of 249,444 shares, compared to its average volume of 275,973. Matson, Inc. has a 1-year low of $56.64 and a 1-year high of $122.99. The business has a fifty day moving average of $111.71 and a 200 day moving average of $103.17. The company has a market capitalization of $3.84 billion, a PE ratio of 13.30 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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $788.90 million during 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%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.10 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Matson, Inc. will post 8.2 EPS for the current year.

Matson Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 8th were issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 7th. Matson's payout ratio is 15.27%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on MATX. StockNews.com lowered shares of Matson from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Matson from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st.

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.