William Blair Investment Management LLC Acquires New Holdings in Matson, Inc. $MATX

William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 132,082 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,390,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned 0.44% of Matson at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MATX. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Matson by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,402 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $462,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Matson by 57.3% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 258 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Matson by 0.3% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 30,624 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $5,021,000 after buying an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in shares of Matson by 0.7% in the first quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 14,749 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $2,418,000 after buying an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP bought a new stake in Matson during the second quarter valued at $28,000. 84.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Matson news, SVP Kuuhaku T. Park sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.49, for a total transaction of $208,490.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 9,984 shares in the company, valued at $2,081,564.16. This trade represents a 9.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jennifer C. Tungul sold 402 shares of Matson stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.49, for a total transaction of $83,812.98. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 5,852 shares in the company, valued at $1,220,083.48. This trade represents a 6.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 14,169 shares of company stock valued at $2,933,211 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 2.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on MATX shares. Stephens boosted their target price on Matson from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings raised Matson from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Matson from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Matson from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Matson from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and four have issued a Buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $232.33.

Matson Stock Up 2.9%

MATX opened at $223.14 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $206.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $183.63. Matson, Inc. has a 52 week low of $86.97 and a 52 week high of $230.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The stock has a market cap of $6.67 billion, a PE ratio of 14.92 and a beta of 1.27.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The shipping company reported $4.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.79 by $0.48. Matson had a return on equity of 16.94% and a net margin of 13.41%.The firm had revenue of $969.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $893.91 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.92 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Matson, Inc. will post 16.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Matson Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 6th will be paid a $0.38 dividend. This is an increase from Matson’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 6th. Matson’s payout ratio is currently 10.16%.

Matson Profile

Matson, Inc (NYSE: MATX) is a U.S.-based provider of ocean transportation and supply chain logistics services with a focus on Pacific trade lanes. The company operates a fleet of container ships that regularly service Hawaii, Alaska, Guam, Micronesia and other Pacific islands, as well as mainland U.S. ports. Matson’s ocean transportation segment offers scheduled liner services, expedited shipping options and specialized project cargo handling for industries ranging from retail to heavy machinery.

In addition to its core liner operations, Matson offers ocean transportation services between Asia and the U.S.