Breakwater Capital Group Purchases Shares of 2,000 Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX)

Breakwater Capital Group acquired a new position in shares of Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,000 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $256,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Matson by 67.7% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 213 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in Matson in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Matson in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. IFP Advisors Inc acquired a new position in shares of Matson during the fourth quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its position in shares of Matson by 16.3% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 586 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MATX. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Matson from $160.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Stephens lowered their target price on Matson from $175.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen lowered Matson from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Matson from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Matson presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $138.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Matson news, SVP Leonard P. Isotoff sold 500 shares of Matson stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.47, for a total value of $55,735.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 5,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $629,136.68. The trade was a 8.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Bradley D. Tilden acquired 2,752 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 29th. The shares were bought at an average price of $111.76 per share, for a total transaction of $307,563.52. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 8,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $914,196.80. This trade represents a 50.70% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 2.05% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Matson Trading Up 0.7%

NYSE MATX opened at $112.89 on Friday. Matson, Inc. has a 12 month low of $91.75 and a 12 month high of $169.12. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $107.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $128.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a market capitalization of $3.69 billion, a PE ratio of 9.39 and a beta of 1.30.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The shipping company reported $2.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.34 by ($0.16). The company had revenue of $782.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $818.07 million. Matson had a return on equity of 16.89% and a net margin of 12.37%. Matson’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.04 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Matson, Inc. will post 13.27 EPS for the current year.

Matson Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 8th were given a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 8th. Matson’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.96%.

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.