Matson (NYSE:MATX) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to Hold

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Matson (NYSE:MATX) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Saturday.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Stephens increased their target price on shares of Matson from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Matson from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Matson from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Matson from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and four have given a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $232.33.

Matson Price Performance

NYSE:MATX opened at $223.14 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $6.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.92 and a beta of 1.27. Matson has a one year low of $86.97 and a one year high of $230.74. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $206.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $183.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The shipping company reported $4.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.79 by $0.48. The firm had revenue of $969.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $893.91 million. Matson had a net margin of 13.41% and a return on equity of 16.94%. The business’s revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.92 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Matson will post 16.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Matson Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 6th will be given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This is an increase from Matson’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 6th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Matson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.16%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Jennifer C. Tungul sold 402 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.49, for a total value of $83,812.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 5,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,220,083.48. This represents a 6.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Kuuhaku T. Park sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.49, for a total transaction of $208,490.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 9,984 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,081,564.16. This represents a 9.10% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 14,169 shares of company stock valued at $2,933,211 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 2.51% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Matson

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Allworth Financial LP acquired a new position in Matson during the second quarter worth $28,000. Danske Bank A S bought a new stake in shares of Matson in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Matson during the 2nd quarter worth about $44,000. SouthState Bank Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Matson during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in Matson during the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.76% of the company’s stock.

Matson Company Profile

Matson, Inc (NYSE: MATX) is a U.S.-based provider of ocean transportation and supply chain logistics services with a focus on Pacific trade lanes. The company operates a fleet of container ships that regularly service Hawaii, Alaska, Guam, Micronesia and other Pacific islands, as well as mainland U.S. ports. Matson’s ocean transportation segment offers scheduled liner services, expedited shipping options and specialized project cargo handling for industries ranging from retail to heavy machinery.

In addition to its core liner operations, Matson offers ocean transportation services between Asia and the U.S.