Matson (NYSE:MATX) Upgraded to Buy at StockNews.com

Matson (NYSE:MATX) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday.

MATX has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of Matson in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Matson from $109.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st.

Matson Stock Performance

Matson stock opened at $129.25 on Wednesday. Matson has a fifty-two week low of $74.04 and a fifty-two week high of $133.53. The company has a market capitalization of $4.52 billion, a PE ratio of 15.24 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $119.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $114.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 0.97.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The shipping company reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.05. Matson had a return on equity of 12.66% and a net margin of 9.61%. The business had revenue of $722.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $730.44 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.94 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Matson will post 10.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Matson

In other news, SVP Leonard P. Isotoff sold 2,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.48, for a total value of $314,944.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $533,830.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Matson news, SVP Leonard P. Isotoff sold 2,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.48, for a total transaction of $314,944.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $533,830.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Richard S. Kinney sold 1,792 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.11, for a total transaction of $206,277.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,588 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,103,674.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 22,269 shares of company stock valued at $2,795,413. Corporate insiders own 2.32% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Matson

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Matson by 5.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,984,076 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $447,810,000 after purchasing an additional 215,452 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Matson by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,658,613 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $291,386,000 after buying an additional 43,846 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Matson by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 653,613 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $57,989,000 after buying an additional 65,736 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in Matson by 25.5% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 293,163 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $32,131,000 after acquiring an additional 59,652 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management boosted its holdings in shares of Matson by 18.1% in the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 282,763 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $31,783,000 after acquiring an additional 43,324 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.76% of the company’s stock.

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.