Matson, Inc. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.34 (NYSE:MATX)

Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 24th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th will be given a dividend of 0.34 per share by the shipping company on Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th.

Matson has increased its dividend payment by an average of 11.9% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 13 consecutive years. Matson has a payout ratio of 14.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Matson to earn $9.11 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.36 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 14.9%.

Matson Stock Performance

MATX stock traded down $0.04 during trading on Friday, reaching $133.31. 117,800 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 272,645. Matson has a 1-year low of $82.68 and a 1-year high of $144.93. The firm has a market cap of $4.66 billion, a PE ratio of 15.72 and a beta of 1.07. The company's fifty day moving average price is $135.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $126.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Matson (NYSE:MATX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The shipping company reported $3.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.26. Matson had a net margin of 10.41% and a return on equity of 13.87%. The firm had revenue of $847.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $861.68 million. On average, research analysts expect that Matson will post 11.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Stephens upped their target price on Matson from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com lowered Matson from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, September 6th.

Insider Activity at Matson

In other news, CEO Matthew J. Cox sold 6,499 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.82, for a total transaction of $934,686.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 208,898 shares of the company's stock, valued at $30,043,710.36. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, SVP Laura L. Rascon sold 744 shares of Matson stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.13, for a total value of $96,072.72. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,369 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,597,208.97. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Matthew J. Cox sold 6,499 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.82, for a total transaction of $934,686.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 208,898 shares in the company, valued at $30,043,710.36. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 49,736 shares of company stock valued at $6,672,494 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 2.32% 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.