Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. Raises Holdings in Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX)

Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. grew its position in shares of Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) by 55.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,421 shares of the shipping company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,288 shares during the period. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Matson were worth $866,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Matson by 0.5% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 16,217 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $2,313,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Matson by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 16,645 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $2,244,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Matson by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 2,972 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $401,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Matson by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 2,283 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $326,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Matson by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 1,663 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $237,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.76% of the company’s stock.

Matson Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE MATX opened at $138.07 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The company has a market cap of $4.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.49 and a beta of 1.05. Matson, Inc. has a 1 year low of $100.50 and a 1 year high of $169.12. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $139.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $141.44.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The shipping company reported $3.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.20 by $0.60. Matson had a net margin of 12.37% and a return on equity of 16.89%. The firm had revenue of $890.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $851.78 million. Research analysts anticipate that Matson, Inc. will post 13.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Matson Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 6th. Matson’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.69%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on MATX shares. Stephens increased their price target on shares of Matson from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Matson from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Matson from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th.

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.