By otakuyassine3@gmail.com 
Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX – Get Free Report) saw a large drop in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 938,200 shares, a drop of 15.5% from the December 31st total of 1,110,000 shares. Currently, 2.9% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 250,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.7 days.
Insider Buying and Selling at Matson
In related news, EVP Peter T. Heilmann sold 5,404 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.36, for a total value of $877,393.44. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 32,952 shares in the company, valued at $5,350,086.72. The trade was a 14.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Rusty K. Rolfe sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.97, for a total transaction of $497,910.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 21,871 shares in the company, valued at $3,629,929.87. This represents a 12.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 9,646 shares of company stock worth $1,578,768 in the last quarter. 2.32% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew 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 purchasing an additional 91,172 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Matson by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 395,716 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $56,437,000 after buying an additional 20,568 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Matson by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 286,968 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $40,927,000 after buying an additional 26,366 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Matson by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 180,956 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $24,400,000 after buying an additional 4,945 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers lifted its position in Matson by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 103,398 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $13,942,000 after buying an additional 1,518 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.76% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Matson from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Matson in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd.
Check Out Our Latest Analysis on Matson
Matson Stock Up 0.5 %
NYSE:MATX traded up $0.64 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $141.98. 275,560 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 199,609. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $142.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $139.59. Matson has a one year low of $100.50 and a one year high of $169.12. The company has a market cap of $4.72 billion, a PE ratio of 11.81 and a beta of 1.07.
Matson (NYSE:MATX – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The shipping company reported $5.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.98 by $0.91. Matson had a return on equity of 16.89% and a net margin of 12.37%. The company had revenue of $962.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $965.73 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.40 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Matson will post 13.2 earnings per share for the current year.
Matson Announces Dividend
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 6th. Matson’s payout ratio is presently 11.31%.
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.
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