Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. Buys 2,288 Shares of Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX)

Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) by 55.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,421 shares of the shipping company’s stock after buying an additional 2,288 shares during the quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Matson were worth $866,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. IFP Advisors Inc purchased a new position in Matson during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Matson during the third quarter valued at approximately $50,000. U S Global Investors Inc. purchased a new position in Matson during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $111,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Matson by 339.5% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 901 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $122,000 after buying an additional 696 shares during the period. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC increased its holdings in Matson by 31.4% during the fourth quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 1,059 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $143,000 after buying an additional 253 shares during the period. 84.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Stephens lifted their price objective on shares of Matson from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Matson from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered shares of Matson from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th.

Matson Price Performance

NYSE MATX opened at $138.07 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $139.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $141.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Matson, Inc. has a 12-month low of $100.50 and a 12-month high of $169.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.49 and a beta of 1.05.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $890.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $851.78 million. Matson had a net margin of 12.37% and a return on equity of 16.89%. Analysts forecast that Matson, Inc. will post 13.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Matson Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 6th. Matson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.69%.

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.