Amundi Buys 11,169 Shares of Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX)

Amundi grew its stake in Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) by 185.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 17,188 shares of the shipping company’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,169 shares during the period. Amundi’s holdings in Matson were worth $2,393,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Matson during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,328,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in Matson by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 50,164 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $6,764,000 after buying an additional 2,296 shares during the last quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. raised its stake in shares of Matson by 55.4% during the 4th quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. now owns 6,421 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $866,000 after purchasing an additional 2,288 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Matson by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 46,630 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $6,288,000 after purchasing an additional 5,389 shares during the period. Finally, Bailard Inc. raised its stake in shares of Matson by 59.1% during the 4th quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 5,250 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $708,000 after purchasing an additional 1,950 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MATX. Stephens boosted their price objective on Matson from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Matson from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered Matson from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th.

Insider Transactions 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 directly owns 8,425 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,155,151.75. This represents a 19.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 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 owns 25,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,394,118.16. The trade was a 24.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.32% of the company’s stock.

Matson Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MATX opened at $129.96 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.81 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $138.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $141.31. Matson, Inc. has a twelve month low of $100.50 and a twelve month high of $169.12.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The shipping company reported $3.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.60. The business had revenue of $890.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $851.78 million. Matson had a return on equity of 16.89% and a net margin of 12.37%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Matson, Inc. will post 13.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Matson Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 6th were issued a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.05%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 6th. Matson’s payout ratio is currently 9.69%.

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.