Matson (NYSE:MATX) Earns “Overweight” Rating from Stephens

Matson (NYSE:MATX)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reiterated by stock analysts at Stephens in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $165.00 target price on the shipping company’s stock. Stephens’ price target would indicate a potential upside of 22.37% from the stock’s previous close.

MATX has been the subject of several other reports. Wolfe Research downgraded Matson from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. StockNews.com cut Matson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th.

Matson Price Performance

Matson stock opened at $134.84 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.13. Matson has a one year low of $100.50 and a one year high of $169.12. The company has a market cap of $4.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.22 and a beta of 1.04. The business has a fifty day moving average of $148.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $137.74.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The shipping company reported $5.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.98 by $0.91. Matson had a net margin of 12.37% and a return on equity of 16.89%. The firm had revenue of $962.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $965.73 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.40 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Matson will post 13.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Matson

In other Matson news, SVP John Warren Sullivan sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.50, for a total transaction of $124,125.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,745 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,109,297.50. This trade represents a 5.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 transaction of $877,393.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 32,952 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,350,086.72. This represents a 14.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,646 shares of company stock valued at $1,578,768 over the last three months. 2.32% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Matson

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in Matson in the 2nd quarter worth about $34,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Matson in the second quarter worth approximately $39,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Matson in the third quarter worth approximately $50,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Matson in the second quarter valued at approximately $79,000. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new position in Matson during the third quarter worth approximately $92,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.