Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) Short Interest Update

Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) saw a significant drop in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,170,000 shares, a drop of 20.9% from the February 13th total of 1,480,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 277,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.2 days. Approximately 3.7% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Matson Stock Down 1.9 %

NYSE:MATX traded down $2.47 on Monday, hitting $127.63. 109,896 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 288,823. 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 has a 1 year low of $100.50 and a 1 year high of $169.12. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $138.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $141.31. The company has a market cap of $4.19 billion, a PE ratio of 10.64 and a beta of 1.05.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The shipping company reported $3.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.20 by $0.60. The business had revenue of $890.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $851.78 million. Matson had a return on equity of 16.89% and a net margin of 12.37%. Equities analysts anticipate that Matson will post 13.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Matson Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 6th were given a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 6th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.07%. Matson’s payout ratio is currently 9.69%.

Insider Activity

In other Matson news, EVP John P. Lauer sold 7,985 shares of Matson stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.73, for a total value of $1,075,819.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 25,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,394,118.16. The trade was a 24.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Richard S. Kinney sold 1,997 shares of Matson 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,155,151.75. This represents a 19.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.32% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Matson

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Matson by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,025,208 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $542,759,000 after buying an additional 11,357 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Matson by 10.9% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,086,932 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $146,562,000 after buying an additional 106,490 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Matson by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,049,772 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $141,551,000 after buying an additional 91,172 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Matson by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 753,414 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $101,590,000 after buying an additional 58,027 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Matson by 21.5% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 663,245 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $89,432,000 after purchasing an additional 117,545 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Stephens boosted their price target 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. Wolfe Research cut shares of Matson from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Matson from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th.

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.