Choreo LLC Acquires New Shares in Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX)

Choreo LLC acquired a new stake in Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 1,800 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MATX. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Matson by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,658,613 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $291,386,000 after buying an additional 43,846 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in Matson by 11.2% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 653,613 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $57,989,000 after purchasing an additional 65,736 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Matson by 25.5% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 293,163 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $32,131,000 after purchasing an additional 59,652 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management grew its stake in shares of Matson by 450.4% during the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 239,439 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $26,243,000 after purchasing an additional 195,939 shares during the period. Finally, RK Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Matson by 19.9% during the 4th quarter. RK Capital Management LLC now owns 112,490 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $12,329,000 after purchasing an additional 18,690 shares during the period. 84.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on MATX. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $135.00 price target on shares of Matson in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Matson from $109.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Matson from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd.

Matson Trading Down 3.1 %

Shares of NYSE:MATX opened at $124.28 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $120.87 and a 200 day moving average of $114.98. The company has a market cap of $4.34 billion, a PE ratio of 14.66 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Matson, Inc. has a 12-month low of $76.03 and a 12-month high of $133.53.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The shipping company reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $722.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $730.44 million. Matson had a return on equity of 12.66% and a net margin of 9.61%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.94 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Matson, Inc. will post 10.1 EPS for the current year.

Matson Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 1st will be paid a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.09%. This is an increase from Matson’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 1st. Matson’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Matson news, CFO Joel M. Wine sold 12,090 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.73, for a total value of $1,568,435.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 139,239 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,063,475.47. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related 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 owns 230,397 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,076,024.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Joel M. Wine sold 12,090 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.73, for a total value of $1,568,435.70. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 139,239 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,063,475.47. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 34,359 shares of company stock worth $4,363,849 in the last three months. 2.32% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.