Magnetar Financial LLC Makes New Investment in Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX)

Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new position in Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 3,347 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $451,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MATX. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Matson by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 16,217 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $2,313,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC increased its position in Matson by 4.2% during the third 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. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Matson by 53.0% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,572 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $367,000 after acquiring an additional 891 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its position in Matson by 43.5% during the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 14,382 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $2,051,000 after acquiring an additional 4,361 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Matson by 5.5% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 395,716 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $56,437,000 after acquiring an additional 20,568 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Matson

In other news, SVP Richard S. Kinney sold 1,997 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.11, for a total value of $273,808.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,155,151.75. This represents a 19.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP John P. Lauer sold 7,985 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.73, for a total value of $1,075,819.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 25,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,394,118.16. This trade represents a 24.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.32% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Matson from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Stephens upped their price objective on Matson from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th.

Matson Stock Performance

NYSE:MATX opened at $128.95 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $137.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $140.99. Matson, Inc. has a 52-week low of $100.50 and a 52-week high of $169.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.23 billion, a PE ratio of 10.73 and a beta of 1.05.

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

Matson Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 6th were issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.05%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 6th. Matson’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.69%.

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.