Stifel Nicolaus Increases Matson (NYSE:MATX) Price Target to $111.00

Matson (NYSE:MATX) had its price objective hoisted by equities research analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $109.00 to $111.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “hold” rating on the shipping company’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price target would indicate a potential upside of 1.82% from the company’s current price.

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded Matson from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday.

Matson Trading Up 3.4 %

NYSE:MATX opened at $109.02 on Wednesday. Matson has a fifty-two week low of $62.71 and a fifty-two week high of $122.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.76 billion, a PE ratio of 12.86 and a beta of 1.12. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $108.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $105.81.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The shipping company reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 12.68% and a net margin of 9.61%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.94 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Matson will post 8.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Matson news, SVP Christopher A. Scott sold 1,171 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.83, for a total value of $126,268.93. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,397,261.14. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 2.32% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Matson

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MATX. LSV Asset Management lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 195,939 shares during the period. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Matson in the third quarter worth approximately $14,074,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Matson in the fourth quarter worth approximately $10,295,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Matson by 11.2% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 653,613 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $57,989,000 after acquiring an additional 65,736 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Matson by 25.5% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 293,163 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $32,131,000 after acquiring an additional 59,652 shares in the last quarter. 84.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.