Bailard Inc. Has $708,000 Position in Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX)

Bailard Inc. increased its position in shares of Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) by 59.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,250 shares of the shipping company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,950 shares during the period. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in Matson were worth $708,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MATX. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Matson by 0.5% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 16,217 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $2,313,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Matson by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 16,645 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $2,244,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Matson by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 2,972 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $401,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Matson by 4.2% in the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 2,283 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $326,000 after buying an additional 91 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its stake in shares of Matson by 6.9% in the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 1,663 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $237,000 after buying an additional 107 shares during the period. 84.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Matson Trading Down 2.6 %

Shares of Matson stock opened at $140.31 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $4.66 billion, a PE ratio of 11.67 and a beta of 1.05. Matson, Inc. 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 current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $139.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $141.43.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The shipping company reported $3.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $851.78 million. Equities research analysts anticipate that Matson, Inc. will post 13.27 EPS for the current year.

Matson Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 6th will be paid a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 6th. Matson’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.69%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MATX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wolfe Research downgraded Matson from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Stephens increased their price objective on Matson from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Matson from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th.

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.