Magnetar Financial LLC Acquires Shares of 3,347 Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX)

Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 3,347 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $451,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in Matson by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,049,772 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $141,551,000 after purchasing an additional 91,172 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Matson by 5.5% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 395,716 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $56,437,000 after purchasing an additional 20,568 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Matson by 10.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 286,968 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $40,927,000 after purchasing an additional 26,366 shares during the period. Boston Partners raised its holdings in shares of Matson by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 182,570 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $24,707,000 after buying an additional 8,704 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Matson by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 180,956 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $24,400,000 after buying an additional 4,945 shares during the period. 84.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Matson from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Stephens increased their price target on Matson from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th.

Matson Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE MATX opened at $128.95 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.13. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $137.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $140.99. Matson, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $100.50 and a fifty-two week high of $169.12. The company has a market cap of $4.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.73 and a beta of 1.05.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The shipping company reported $3.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.60. The business had revenue of $890.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $851.78 million. Matson had a return on equity of 16.89% and a net margin of 12.37%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Matson, Inc. will post 13.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Matson Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 6th were given a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 6th. Matson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Matson

In other news, EVP John P. Lauer sold 7,985 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.73, for a total value of $1,075,819.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 25,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,394,118.16. The trade was a 24.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Richard S. Kinney sold 1,997 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.11, for a total value of $273,808.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,155,151.75. The trade was a 19.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.32% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.