Artemis Investment Management LLP Buys 14,111 Shares of Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX)

Artemis Investment Management LLP lifted its stake in shares of Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) by 32.8% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 57,078 shares of the shipping company’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,111 shares during the quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP’s holdings in Matson were worth $6,412,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Advisors Preferred LLC bought a new stake in Matson in the 4th quarter valued at $1,958,000. Forest Avenue Capital Management LP raised its stake in Matson by 30.6% in the 4th quarter. Forest Avenue Capital Management LP now owns 64,000 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $7,014,000 after acquiring an additional 15,000 shares during the period. Seven Eight Capital LP raised its stake in Matson by 579.8% in the 4th quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP now owns 16,819 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $1,843,000 after acquiring an additional 14,345 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Matson by 105.0% in the 3rd quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 37,379 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $3,316,000 after acquiring an additional 19,149 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management raised its stake in Matson by 450.4% in the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 239,439 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $26,243,000 after acquiring an additional 195,939 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Matson in a research note on Friday, May 24th. StockNews.com upgraded Matson from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Matson from $109.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st.

Matson Stock Up 1.6 %

MATX stock opened at $130.97 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.44 and a beta of 1.11. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $118.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $113.77. Matson, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $74.04 and a fifty-two week high of $133.53.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The shipping company reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $722.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $730.44 million. Matson had a return on equity of 12.66% and a net margin of 9.61%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.94 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Matson, Inc. will post 10.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Matson Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. This is a positive change from Matson’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 1st. Matson’s dividend payout ratio is 15.09%.

Insider Transactions at Matson

In other news, CEO Matthew J. Cox sold 7,843 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.54, for a total transaction of $1,023,825.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 230,397 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,076,024.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Joel M. Wine sold 8,941 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.80, for a total transaction of $1,151,600.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 151,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,491,175.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Matthew J. Cox sold 7,843 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.54, for a total value of $1,023,825.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 230,397 shares in the company, valued at $30,076,024.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 22,269 shares of company stock valued at $2,795,413. 2.32% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.