Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the six ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $131.6667.

MATX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Matson in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Matson in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Matson from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Christopher A. Scott sold 1,044 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.94, for a total value of $114,777.36. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 13,441 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,477,703.54. This trade represents a 7.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.05% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MATX. Boston Partners raised its holdings in Matson by 424.8% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 958,170 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $121,428,000 after buying an additional 775,600 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Matson in the second quarter valued at approximately $21,037,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Matson in the first quarter valued at approximately $23,325,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in Matson by 27.9% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 590,763 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $65,770,000 after acquiring an additional 128,994 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new stake in Matson in the second quarter valued at approximately $14,183,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.76% of the company’s stock.

Matson Price Performance

Matson stock opened at $88.04 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 1.21. Matson has a 12-month low of $86.97 and a 12-month high of $169.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $103.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $107.68.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The shipping company reported $2.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.18 by $0.74. The business had revenue of $830.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $727.30 million. Matson had a net margin of 14.26% and a return on equity of 18.90%. The company’s revenue was down 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.31 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Matson will post 13.27 earnings per share for the current year.

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.