Empowered Funds LLC Reduces Position in Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX)

Empowered Funds LLC trimmed its holdings in Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX - Free Report) by 57.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,829 shares of the shipping company's stock after selling 21,297 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC's holdings in Matson were worth $2,258,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MATX. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Matson by 5.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,984,076 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $447,810,000 after acquiring an additional 215,452 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in Matson by 126.5% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 240,117 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $31,448,000 after acquiring an additional 134,092 shares in the last quarter. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Matson by 52.1% in the second quarter. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC now owns 356,416 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $46,680,000 after purchasing an additional 122,017 shares during the last quarter. Forest Avenue Capital Management LP lifted its stake in Matson by 50.2% in the second quarter. Forest Avenue Capital Management LP now owns 232,455 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $30,445,000 after purchasing an additional 77,731 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Matson by 14,162.0% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 42,786 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $6,102,000 after purchasing an additional 42,486 shares during the last quarter. 84.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Matson news, SVP Leonard P. Isotoff sold 492 shares of Matson stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.26, for a total value of $79,339.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,254 shares of the company's stock, valued at $686,000.04. This trade represents a 10.37 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, 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 $29,546,006.49. The trade was a 3.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 24,645 shares of company stock worth $3,677,960 in the last three months. Company insiders own 2.32% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Matson Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:MATX traded up $0.88 during trading on Thursday, reaching $152.64. 196,524 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 274,160. The stock has a market cap of $5.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.62 and a beta of 1.06. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $143.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $132.18. Matson, Inc. has a 52-week low of $93.75 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.

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

Matson Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be given a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.89%. Matson's payout ratio is 11.31%.

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.