Raymond James Financial Inc. Takes Position in Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 32,100 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,328,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MATX. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Matson by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,049,772 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $141,551,000 after purchasing an additional 91,172 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC bought a new stake in Matson during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $9,788,000. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec purchased a new stake in Matson during the third quarter valued at approximately $6,735,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Matson during the third quarter valued at approximately $5,746,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Matson by 10.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 286,968 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $40,927,000 after acquiring an additional 26,366 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MATX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Stephens boosted their price objective on shares of Matson from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Matson from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th.

Matson Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MATX opened at $133.07 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $4.37 billion, a PE ratio of 11.07 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 fifty day moving average price of $137.38 and a 200-day moving average price of $141.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 1.13.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The shipping company reported $3.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.60. The business had revenue of $890.30 million during 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%. Equities analysts anticipate that Matson, Inc. will post 13.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Matson Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 6th were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 6th. Matson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP John P. Lauer sold 7,985 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.73, for a total transaction of $1,075,819.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 25,192 shares in the company, valued at $3,394,118.16. This trade represents a 24.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Richard S. Kinney sold 1,997 shares of Matson 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,425 shares in the company, valued at $1,155,151.75. This trade represents a 19.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.05% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Matson Company 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.