Legal & General Group Plc Acquires New Position in Matson, Inc. $MATX

Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in shares of Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 58,432 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,232,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MATX. Allworth Financial LP purchased a new position in shares of Matson during the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Danske Bank A S purchased a new stake in shares of Matson in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Matson in the second quarter valued at $44,000. SouthState Bank Corp acquired a new position in Matson in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Matson in the second quarter valued at $28,000. 84.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Matson Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of MATX opened at $223.92 on Tuesday. Matson, Inc. has a twelve month low of $86.97 and a twelve month high of $230.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.97 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $209.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $186.33.

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

Matson Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen lowered Matson from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Matson from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Stephens increased their price objective on shares of Matson from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Matson from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Matson from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and four have issued a Buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Matson presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $232.33.

Insider Activity

In other Matson news, SVP Leonard P. Isotoff sold 1,250 shares of Matson stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.30, for a total transaction of $260,375.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 6,527 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,359,574.10. The trade was a 16.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Peter T. Heilmann sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.15, for a total transaction of $1,100,750.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 20,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,514,395.90. This represents a 19.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 15,262 shares of company stock worth $3,223,716. Insiders own 2.51% of the company’s stock.

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.