Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Purchases Shares of 17,500 Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 17,500 shares of the shipping company's stock, valued at approximately $1,918,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Matson by 78.5% during the 2nd quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 449,441 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $34,935,000 after buying an additional 197,658 shares during the last quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Matson during the 3rd quarter worth about $14,074,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Matson by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,655,892 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $561,594,000 after purchasing an additional 153,723 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Matson by 313.2% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 193,400 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $2,652,000 after buying an additional 146,589 shares in the last quarter. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Matson by 567.7% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 144,987 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $9,064,000 after buying an additional 123,272 shares during the period. 84.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Matson news, SVP Christopher A. Scott sold 1,171 shares of Matson stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,958 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,397,261.14. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.32% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MATX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Matson from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Matson from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st.

Matson Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MATX traded up $1.58 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $106.22. 202,059 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 266,696. The business's fifty day moving average price is $110.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $104.49. The company has a market cap of $3.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.48 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Matson, Inc. has a 12-month low of $61.51 and a 12-month high of $122.99.

Matson (NYSE:MATX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The shipping company reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.75 by $0.03. The firm 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%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.10 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Matson, Inc. will post 8.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Matson Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 8th were given a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 7th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.21%. Matson's payout ratio is 15.27%.

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.