Prudential Financial Inc. Has $7.28 Million Holdings in Matson, Inc. $MATX

Prudential Financial Inc. decreased its position in shares of Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) by 20.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 65,361 shares of the shipping company’s stock after selling 17,273 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Matson were worth $7,278,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MATX. Boston Partners grew its position in Matson by 424.8% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 958,170 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $121,428,000 after purchasing an additional 775,600 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Matson during the second quarter worth $21,037,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Matson in the first quarter valued at $23,325,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new position in shares of Matson in the second quarter valued at $14,183,000. Finally, Park West Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Matson during the first quarter valued at about $11,535,000. 84.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Matson Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of Matson stock opened at $108.98 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.40 billion, a PE ratio of 7.37 and a beta of 1.32. Matson, Inc. has a 1 year low of $86.97 and a 1 year high of $156.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $100.98 and a 200-day moving average price of $106.34.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The shipping company reported $4.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.25 by $0.99. Matson had a net margin of 14.26% and a return on equity of 18.90%. The company had revenue of $880.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $837.72 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.89 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Matson, Inc. will post 13.27 EPS for the current year.

Matson Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 6th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Matson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.96%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MATX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Matson from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $142.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, November 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Matson in a report on Monday, November 24th. Zacks Research upgraded Matson from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. Finally, Stephens lifted their target price on Matson from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $141.75.

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.