CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Reduces Stock Position in Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co decreased its position in Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) by 2.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 30,115 shares of the shipping company’s stock after selling 811 shares during the quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co’s holdings in Matson were worth $4,058,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Matson by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,025,208 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $542,759,000 after purchasing an additional 11,357 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Matson by 10.9% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,086,932 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $146,562,000 after acquiring an additional 106,490 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Matson by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,049,772 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $141,551,000 after acquiring an additional 91,172 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Matson by 45.7% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 346,589 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $46,734,000 after acquiring an additional 108,774 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Matson by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 323,124 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $43,570,000 after purchasing an additional 36,156 shares during the period. 84.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Matson Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of Matson stock opened at $103.54 on Friday. Matson, Inc. has a 1 year low of $92.90 and a 1 year high of $169.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The company has a 50-day moving average of $123.37 and a 200 day moving average of $136.71. The firm has a market cap of $3.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.61 and a beta of 1.12.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The shipping company reported $3.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.20 by $0.60. The firm had revenue of $890.30 million during 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Matson, Inc. will post 13.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Matson Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 8th will be paid a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.31%. Matson’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.69%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP John P. Lauer sold 7,985 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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 in the company, valued at $1,155,151.75. This trade 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MATX. Stephens lifted their target price on shares of Matson from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Matson from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th.

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.