Jennison Associates LLC Takes Position in Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX)

Jennison Associates LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 8,699 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $953,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MATX. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Matson during the 3rd quarter valued at about $14,074,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Matson by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 653,613 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $57,989,000 after buying an additional 65,736 shares in the last quarter. Forest Avenue Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Matson during the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,347,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of Matson by 170.5% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 70,561 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $6,260,000 after buying an additional 44,477 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP purchased a new position in shares of Matson during the 4th quarter valued at about $4,709,000. 84.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Matson Price Performance

Shares of Matson stock opened at $108.94 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07. Matson, Inc. has a one year low of $62.71 and a one year high of $122.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.00 and a beta of 1.12. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $109.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $105.40.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The shipping company reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.03. Matson had a return on equity of 12.71% and a net margin of 9.60%. The firm had revenue of $788.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $733.60 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.10 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Matson, Inc. will post 8.2 EPS for the current year.

Matson Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 8th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.17%. Matson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.27%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Christopher A. Scott sold 1,171 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.83, for a total transaction of $126,268.93. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,397,261.14. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 2.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on MATX. StockNews.com raised Matson from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 20th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Matson from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st.

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.