Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) Short Interest Update

Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,240,000 shares, a growth of 51.8% from the November 30th total of 816,600 shares. Approximately 3.8% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 253,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.9 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Rusty K. Rolfe sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.97, for a total value of $497,910.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 21,871 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,629,929.87. This represents a 12.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Leonard P. Isotoff sold 492 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.26, for a total value of $79,339.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,254 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $686,000.04. The trade was a 10.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 9,646 shares of company stock worth $1,578,768 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 2.32% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Matson

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in Matson by 17.9% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 18,877 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $2,472,000 after purchasing an additional 2,866 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Matson by 93.9% during the second quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 11,234 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $1,471,000 after buying an additional 5,439 shares during the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors acquired a new position in Matson in the second quarter valued at approximately $418,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in Matson by 9.8% in the second quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 2,653 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $347,000 after acquiring an additional 237 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in Matson during the 2nd quarter worth $348,000. Institutional investors own 84.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Matson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Wolfe Research cut shares of Matson from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th.

Matson Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MATX traded down $0.97 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $135.57. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 124,207 shares, compared to its average volume of 272,145. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $148.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $137.55. The company has a market capitalization of $4.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.28 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 1.13. Matson has a fifty-two week low of $100.50 and a fifty-two week high of $169.12.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The shipping company reported $5.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.98 by $0.91. Matson had a net margin of 12.37% and a return on equity of 16.89%. The company had revenue of $962.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $965.73 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.40 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 16.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Matson will post 13.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Matson Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were given a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.00%. Matson’s payout ratio is 11.31%.

Matson Company Profile

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.