5,000 Shares in Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) Bought by KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 5,000 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $674,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Matson by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 286,968 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $40,927,000 after acquiring an additional 26,366 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in Matson by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 182,570 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $24,707,000 after purchasing an additional 8,704 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Matson in the 4th quarter worth about $4,328,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in Matson by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 10,079 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $1,437,000 after buying an additional 703 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of Matson during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $512,000. Institutional investors own 84.76% of the company’s stock.

Matson Stock Performance

Shares of MATX stock opened at $131.11 on Wednesday. Matson, Inc. has a 52 week low of $100.50 and a 52 week high of $169.12. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $136.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $141.16. The firm has a market cap of $4.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.91 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.13.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The shipping company reported $3.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.20 by $0.60. The company had revenue of $890.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $851.78 million. Matson had a return on equity of 16.89% and a net margin of 12.37%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Matson, Inc. will post 13.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Matson Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 6th were given a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 6th. Matson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.69%.

Insider Activity at Matson

In other news, EVP John P. Lauer sold 7,985 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.73, for a total transaction of $1,075,819.05. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 25,192 shares in the company, valued at $3,394,118.16. This represents a 24.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Richard S. Kinney sold 1,997 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.11, for a total transaction of $273,808.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,155,151.75. This trade represents a 19.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.05% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on MATX shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Matson from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Stephens raised their target price on Matson from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th.

Matson 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.