Invesco Ltd. Purchases 108,774 Shares of Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX)

Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) by 45.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 346,589 shares of the shipping company’s stock after buying an additional 108,774 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd.’s holdings in Matson were worth $46,734,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MATX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Matson by 10.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 286,968 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $40,927,000 after purchasing an additional 26,366 shares during the period. Boston Partners boosted its stake in Matson by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 182,570 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $24,707,000 after purchasing an additional 8,704 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Matson in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $4,328,000. Bryce Point Capital LLC bought a new position in Matson in the 4th quarter worth approximately $544,000. Finally, One Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Matson during the fourth quarter worth approximately $258,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Stephens boosted their target price on shares of Matson from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Matson from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th.

Matson Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MATX opened at $100.36 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.29 billion, a PE ratio of 8.35 and a beta of 1.12. 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, Inc. has a 1-year low of $98.84 and a 1-year high of $169.12. The business’s 50 day moving average is $129.45 and its 200-day moving average is $138.65.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $3.20 by $0.60. Matson had a net margin of 12.37% and a return on equity of 16.89%. The firm had revenue of $890.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $851.78 million. Sell-side analysts predict that Matson, Inc. will post 13.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Matson Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Matson news, SVP Richard S. Kinney sold 1,997 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was 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 directly owns 8,425 shares in the company, valued at $1,155,151.75. This represents a 19.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP John P. Lauer sold 7,985 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.73, for a total transaction of $1,075,819.05. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 25,192 shares in the company, valued at $3,394,118.16. This represents a 24.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.05% of the company’s stock.

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.