Quest Partners LLC Boosts Stake in Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX)

Quest Partners LLC raised its position in Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX - Free Report) by 142.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,346 shares of the shipping company's stock after purchasing an additional 6,080 shares during the quarter. Quest Partners LLC's holdings in Matson were worth $1,476,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Matson in the 1st quarter worth approximately $182,000. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System increased its stake in Matson by 25.8% during the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 12,793 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $1,438,000 after buying an additional 2,620 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Matson by 5.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,984,076 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $447,810,000 after buying an additional 215,452 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. increased its stake in Matson by 70.1% during the 1st quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 5,071 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $570,000 after buying an additional 2,090 shares during the period. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Matson by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 51,451 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $5,783,000 after buying an additional 1,475 shares during the period. 84.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MATX. Stephens upped their target price on shares of Matson from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Matson from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Matson from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Monday.

Matson Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE MATX traded down $0.98 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $151.76. The company had a trading volume of 174,348 shares, compared to its average volume of 274,505. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $142.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $132.04. The stock has a market cap of $5.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.71 and a beta of 1.06. Matson, Inc. has a 52-week low of $93.75 and a 52-week high of $169.12.

Matson (NYSE:MATX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The shipping company reported $5.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.98 by $0.91. The firm had revenue of $962.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $965.73 million. Matson had a net margin of 12.37% and a return on equity of 16.89%. Matson's quarterly revenue was up 16.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.40 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Matson, Inc. will post 13.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Matson Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be issued a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.90%. Matson's dividend payout ratio is currently 11.31%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Matthew J. Cox sold 7,500 shares of Matson stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.17, for a total transaction of $1,028,775.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 215,397 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $29,546,006.49. The trade was a 3.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Rusty K. Rolfe sold 3,000 shares of Matson stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.97, for a total value of $497,910.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 21,871 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,629,929.87. This represents a 12.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 24,645 shares of company stock valued at $3,677,960 in the last three months. 2.32% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.