Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) saw a large increase in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,480,000 shares, an increase of 22.3% from the January 31st total of 1,210,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 265,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.6 days. Currently, 4.6% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. grew its position in Matson by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 1,766 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $238,000 after buying an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Matson by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 16,217 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $2,313,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Matson by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 16,645 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $2,244,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd increased its position in shares of Matson by 16.3% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 586 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the period. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Matson by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 2,972 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $401,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MATX. Stephens raised their price objective on Matson from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Matson from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped 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 Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MATX traded down $0.09 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $135.29. 36,485 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 278,028. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $139.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $141.46. Matson has a 1-year low of $100.50 and a 1-year high of $169.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.26 and a beta of 1.05. 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 (NYSE:MATX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The shipping company reported $3.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.60. The company had revenue of $890.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $851.78 million. Matson had a return on equity of 16.89% and a net margin of 12.37%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Matson will post 13.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Matson Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 6th will be issued a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.01%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 6th. Matson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.69%.

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.