Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Has $2.56 Million Holdings in Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund decreased its stake in shares of Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 18,983 shares of the shipping company’s stock after selling 217 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Matson were worth $2,560,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. IFP Advisors Inc bought a new stake in Matson during the fourth quarter worth approximately $40,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Matson in the third quarter worth $50,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new stake in shares of Matson in the third quarter worth $92,000. Rothschild Investment LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Matson by 31.4% during the 4th quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 1,059 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $143,000 after buying an additional 253 shares during the period. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in Matson by 1,661.3% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,092 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $156,000 after buying an additional 1,030 shares during the last quarter. 84.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on MATX shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Matson from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wolfe Research cut Matson from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Stephens increased their target price on Matson from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday.

Matson Price Performance

NYSE:MATX opened at $140.55 on Friday. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $100.50 and a one year high of $169.12. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $139.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $141.11. The stock has a market cap of $4.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.69 and a beta of 1.05.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The shipping company reported $3.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.20 by $0.60. Matson had a net margin of 12.37% and a return on equity of 16.89%. The company had revenue of $890.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $851.78 million. Analysts anticipate that Matson, Inc. will post 13.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Matson Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 6th will be given a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 6th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.97%. Matson’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.31%.

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.