Pacer Advisors Inc. Buys 91,172 Shares of Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX)

Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) by 9.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,049,772 shares of the shipping company’s stock after acquiring an additional 91,172 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Matson were worth $141,551,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Matson during the third quarter worth approximately $50,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new position in Matson in the 3rd quarter worth $92,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new stake in Matson in the second quarter worth $105,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in Matson by 1,661.3% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,092 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $156,000 after buying an additional 1,030 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Matson by 45.6% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,096 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $156,000 after buying an additional 343 shares during the last quarter. 84.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Matson news, EVP Peter T. Heilmann sold 5,404 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.36, for a total value of $877,393.44. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 32,952 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,350,086.72. This represents a 14.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Rusty K. Rolfe sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.97, for a total transaction of $497,910.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 21,871 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,629,929.87. This represents a 12.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 9,646 shares of company stock worth $1,578,768. Company insiders own 2.32% of the company’s stock.

Matson Price Performance

Shares of MATX stock opened at $136.44 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.13. The firm has a market cap of $4.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.35 and a beta of 1.07. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $143.80 and its 200-day moving average price is $139.30. Matson, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $100.50 and a fifty-two week high of $169.12.

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

Matson Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 6th will be given a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 6th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.00%. Matson’s payout ratio is 11.31%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Matson in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Matson from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th.

About Matson

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.