Short Interest in Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) Rises By 51.8%

Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,240,000 shares, an increase of 51.8% from the November 30th total of 816,600 shares. Approximately 3.8% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 253,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.9 days.

Matson Stock Down 1.5 %

NYSE MATX traded down $2.10 during trading on Friday, reaching $136.54. 114,543 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 272,737. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $148.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $137.33. The stock has a market cap of $4.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.36 and a beta of 1.04. Matson has a 1 year low of $100.50 and a 1 year high of $169.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.13.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The shipping company reported $5.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.98 by $0.91. The firm had revenue of $962.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $965.73 million. Matson had a return on equity of 16.89% and a net margin of 12.37%. The firm’s revenue was up 16.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.40 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Matson will post 13.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Matson Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th were given a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.00%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 7th. Matson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.31%.

Insider Transactions at Matson

In other news, CEO Matthew J. Cox sold 6,499 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.82, for a total value of $934,686.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 208,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,043,710.36. This trade represents a 3.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Leonard P. Isotoff sold 492 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.26, for a total transaction of $79,339.92. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,254 shares in the company, valued at approximately $686,000.04. The trade was a 10.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 16,145 shares of company stock worth $2,513,455. 2.32% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Matson

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MATX. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Matson by 4,167,726.1% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 958,600 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $136,716,000 after purchasing an additional 958,577 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Matson by 4.2% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 911,827 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $119,422,000 after buying an additional 36,901 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Matson by 5.5% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 395,716 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $56,437,000 after buying an additional 20,568 shares during the period. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Matson by 52.1% during the second quarter. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC now owns 356,416 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $46,680,000 after buying an additional 122,017 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Matson by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 286,968 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $40,927,000 after acquiring an additional 26,366 shares during the period. 84.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MATX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered Matson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Wolfe Research cut shares of Matson from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th.

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.