Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) Receives $141.75 Average PT from Brokerages

Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the six research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $141.75.

MATX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research raised Matson from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $142.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, November 7th. Zacks Research upgraded Matson from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Matson in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Finally, Stephens boosted their price target on shares of Matson from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Matson

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its position in Matson by 91.6% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 61,500 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $7,883,000 after buying an additional 29,400 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Matson during the second quarter valued at about $21,037,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Matson by 42.6% during the second quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 877 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $98,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its holdings in shares of Matson by 37.4% during the third quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 127,208 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $12,541,000 after purchasing an additional 34,631 shares during the period. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Matson by 190.2% in the first quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 8,625 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $1,105,000 after purchasing an additional 5,653 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.76% of the company’s stock.

Matson Stock Performance

Shares of MATX stock opened at $125.20 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $110.53 and a 200-day moving average of $107.38. Matson has a one year low of $86.97 and a one year high of $154.23. The company has a market cap of $3.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.53 and a beta of 1.33.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The shipping company reported $4.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.25 by $0.99. Matson had a net margin of 12.70% and a return on equity of 16.23%. The business had revenue of $880.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $837.72 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.89 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Matson will post 13.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Matson Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 6th were given a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 6th. Matson’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.96%.

Matson Company Profile

Matson, Inc (NYSE: MATX) is a U.S.-based provider of ocean transportation and supply chain logistics services with a focus on Pacific trade lanes. The company operates a fleet of container ships that regularly service Hawaii, Alaska, Guam, Micronesia and other Pacific islands, as well as mainland U.S. ports. Matson’s ocean transportation segment offers scheduled liner services, expedited shipping options and specialized project cargo handling for industries ranging from retail to heavy machinery.

In addition to its core liner operations, Matson offers ocean transportation services between Asia and the U.S.