Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) was the target of a significant drop in short interest during the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 723,200 shares, a drop of 21.5% from the October 31st total of 921,800 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 292,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.5 days. Currently, 2.2% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on MATX shares. Wolfe Research cut shares of Matson from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. StockNews.com downgraded Matson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Finally, Stephens boosted their target price on Matson from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd.

Insider Activity at Matson

In other news, SVP Jason Lee Taylor sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.73, for a total value of $135,730.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,392 shares in the company, valued at $1,274,776.16. This trade represents a 9.62 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP John Warren Sullivan sold 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.50, for a total value of $124,125.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 12,745 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,109,297.50. This represents a 5.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 17,145 shares of company stock worth $2,649,185 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 2.32% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Matson

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. TruNorth Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Matson during the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Matson in the second quarter valued at approximately $34,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Matson during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Matson during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $50,000. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new stake in Matson in the 1st quarter valued at $71,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.76% of the company’s stock.

Matson Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of MATX traded up $0.10 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $153.18. The stock had a trading volume of 124,024 shares, compared to its average volume of 273,931. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The firm has a market cap of $5.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.74 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $146.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $134.15. Matson has a twelve month low of $93.94 and a twelve month high of $169.12.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last released 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. Matson had a return on equity of 16.89% and a net margin of 12.37%. The firm had revenue of $962.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $965.73 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.40 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 16.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Matson will post 13.19 EPS for the current year.

Matson Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th. Matson’s payout ratio is 11.31%.

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.