Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) Short Interest Update

Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 723,200 shares, a decrease of 21.5% from the October 31st total of 921,800 shares. Approximately 2.2% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 292,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.5 days.

Matson Price Performance

MATX traded up $0.10 during trading on Friday, hitting $153.18. 124,024 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 273,931. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $146.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $134.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 1.13. Matson has a twelve month low of $93.94 and a twelve month high of $169.12. The company has a market cap of $5.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.74 and a beta of 1.06.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The shipping company reported $5.89 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.98 by $0.91. The firm had revenue of $962.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $965.73 million. Matson had a net margin of 12.37% and a return on equity of 16.89%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.40 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Matson will post 13.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Matson Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.89%. Matson’s payout ratio is presently 11.31%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on MATX. Stephens lifted their price objective on Matson from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded Matson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Matson from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Matson

In related news, CEO Matthew J. Cox sold 6,499 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.82, for a total value of $934,686.18. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 208,898 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,043,710.36. This represents a 3.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP John Warren Sullivan sold 750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.50, for a total transaction of $124,125.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,745 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,109,297.50. This represents a 5.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 17,145 shares of company stock valued at $2,649,185 in the last three months. 2.32% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its position in Matson by 43.5% during the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 14,382 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $2,051,000 after acquiring an additional 4,361 shares during the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP increased its stake in shares of Matson by 31.5% in the second quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 75,070 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $9,832,000 after buying an additional 17,992 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. raised its holdings in Matson by 98.1% in the 2nd quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 10,044 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $1,315,000 after buying an additional 4,973 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Matson by 93.9% during the second quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 11,234 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $1,471,000 after purchasing an additional 5,439 shares during the period. Finally, Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Matson during the second quarter worth $559,000. 84.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.