Baird Financial Group Inc. Grows Position in Matson, Inc. $MATX

Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) by 16.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 112,722 shares of the shipping company’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,657 shares during the quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Matson were worth $21,669,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MATX. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Matson during the second quarter worth approximately $952,903,000. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Matson by 14,734.1% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 1,706,810 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $328,100,000 after buying an additional 1,695,304 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in Matson by 144.9% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 455,133 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $44,872,000 after acquiring an additional 269,310 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Matson during the third quarter worth approximately $26,415,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Matson during the second quarter worth $50,637,000. 84.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Matson

In other news, EVP Vic S. Angoco, Jr. sold 2,293 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.76, for a total value of $510,788.68. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 12,507 shares in the company, valued at $2,786,059.32. This represents a 15.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Kuuhaku T. Park sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.49, for a total value of $208,490.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 9,984 shares in the company, valued at $2,081,564.16. This represents a 9.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 12,462 shares of company stock worth $2,695,832. 2.51% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Matson from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Matson from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Matson from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Matson from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Stephens raised their price target on Matson from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and four have issued a Buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Matson currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $232.33.

Matson Trading Up 1.0%

NYSE:MATX opened at $230.17 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.88 billion, a PE ratio of 15.39 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. Matson, Inc. has a 52-week low of $86.97 and a 52-week high of $232.42. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $214.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $190.00.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The shipping company reported $4.27 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.79 by $0.48. Matson had a net margin of 13.41% and a return on equity of 16.94%. The firm had revenue of $969.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $893.91 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.92 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Matson, Inc. will post 16.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Matson Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 6th were given a $0.38 dividend. This is a boost from Matson’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 6th. Matson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.16%.

About Matson

Matson, Inc is a transportation and logistics company that provides ocean shipping and related supply-chain services. Through its Matson Navigation subsidiary, the company transports containerized and non-containerized freight, automobiles, food, household goods, construction materials and other cargo.

Matson operates ocean transportation services connecting the U.S. mainland with Hawaii, Alaska and select destinations in the South Pacific and Micronesia. The company also provides expedited service between China and the United States and maintains logistics operations that support domestic and international freight movement.

Matson Logistics offers intermodal transportation, freight forwarding, warehousing, supply-chain management and other distribution services.