Texas Permanent School Fund Corp Grows Position in Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX)

Texas Permanent School Fund Corp boosted its stake in shares of Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) by 18.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 36,169 shares of the shipping company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,594 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp owned 0.10% of Matson worth $4,737,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MATX. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Matson by 5.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,984,076 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $447,810,000 after acquiring an additional 215,452 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in Matson by 25.5% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 293,163 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $32,131,000 after purchasing an additional 59,652 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management lifted its position in Matson by 18.1% during the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 282,763 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $31,783,000 after purchasing an additional 43,324 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Matson by 3,509.3% in the 1st quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 188,910 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $21,233,000 after buying an additional 183,676 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RK Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Matson by 19.9% during the fourth quarter. RK Capital Management LLC now owns 112,490 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $12,329,000 after acquiring an additional 18,690 shares during the last quarter. 84.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on MATX shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Matson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Stephens increased their target price on Matson from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd.

Matson Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MATX opened at $132.63 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $130.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $120.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.93. Matson, Inc. has a one year low of $82.68 and a one year high of $138.84. The firm has a market cap of $4.45 billion, a PE ratio of 15.64 and a beta of 1.07.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The shipping company reported $3.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $847.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $861.68 million. Matson had a return on equity of 13.87% and a net margin of 10.41%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Matson, Inc. will post 11.45 EPS for the current year.

Matson Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 1st were issued a $0.34 dividend. This is an increase from Matson’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 1st. Matson’s payout ratio is presently 16.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Matson news, CFO Joel M. Wine sold 12,821 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.24, for a total transaction of $1,580,060.04. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 126,418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,579,754.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Matson news, CFO Joel M. Wine sold 12,821 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.24, for a total transaction of $1,580,060.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 126,418 shares in the company, valued at $15,579,754.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Laura L. Rascon sold 744 shares of Matson stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.13, for a total value of $96,072.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 12,369 shares in the company, valued at $1,597,208.97. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 104,376 shares of company stock valued at $13,565,120 over the last three months. 2.32% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Matson 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.