New Age Alpha Advisors LLC Invests $261,000 in Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX)

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 1,939 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $261,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. IFP Advisors Inc acquired a new position in shares of Matson in the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. U S Global Investors Inc. acquired a new position in Matson in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $111,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Matson by 339.5% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 901 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $122,000 after buying an additional 696 shares in the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC grew its position in shares of Matson by 31.4% during the 4th quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 1,059 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $143,000 after buying an additional 253 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Matson by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,229 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $166,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on MATX shares. Stephens increased their target price on shares of Matson from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Matson from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th.

Matson Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MATX opened at $131.11 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $136.63 and its 200-day moving average is $141.16. Matson, Inc. has a twelve month low of $100.50 and a twelve month high of $169.12. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.91 and a beta of 1.05.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The shipping company reported $3.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.60. The firm had revenue of $890.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $851.78 million. Matson had a net margin of 12.37% and a return on equity of 16.89%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Matson, Inc. will post 13.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Matson Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 6th were paid a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 6th. Matson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.69%.

Insider Activity

In other Matson news, EVP John P. Lauer sold 7,985 shares of Matson stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.73, for a total transaction of $1,075,819.05. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 25,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,394,118.16. This trade represents a 24.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Richard S. Kinney sold 1,997 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.11, for a total value of $273,808.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,155,151.75. This represents a 19.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.05% of the company’s stock.

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.