Stephens Increases Matson (NYSE:MATX) Price Target to $175.00

Matson (NYSE:MATX) had its price target boosted by Stephens from $165.00 to $175.00 in a research report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Stephens currently has an overweight rating on the shipping company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on MATX. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Matson from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Wolfe Research downgraded Matson from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th.

Matson Trading Up 2.3 %

Matson stock opened at $144.07 on Wednesday. Matson has a 12 month low of $100.50 and a 12 month high of $169.12. The company has a market capitalization of $4.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.99 and a beta of 1.05. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $139.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $141.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

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

Matson Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 6th. Matson’s payout ratio is presently 9.69%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MATX. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. grew its position in Matson by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 1,766 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $238,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Matson by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 16,217 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $2,313,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Matson by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 16,645 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $2,244,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd increased its position in Matson by 16.3% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 586 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $79,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Matson by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 2,972 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $401,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. 84.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.