Sanctuary Advisors LLC Takes $688,000 Position in Matson, Inc. $MATX

Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 3,580 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $688,000.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Matson during the second quarter valued at about $952,903,000. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Matson by 144.9% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 455,133 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $44,872,000 after buying an additional 269,310 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Matson in the third quarter worth about $26,415,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Matson in the 2nd quarter valued at about $50,637,000. Finally, Encompass Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Matson in the 1st quarter valued at about $32,761,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.76% of the company’s stock.

Matson Stock Up 1.1%

NYSE MATX opened at $224.51 on Friday. Matson, Inc. has a 1 year low of $86.97 and a 1 year high of $230.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.71 billion, a PE ratio of 15.01 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The business’s 50-day moving average is $209.37 and its 200 day moving average is $185.71.

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

Matson Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. This is a boost from Matson’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. 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. Matson’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.16%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on MATX. Wall Street Zen lowered Matson from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 22nd. Weiss Ratings raised Matson from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Stephens raised their target price on shares of Matson from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Matson from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Matson from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. One 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, Matson presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $232.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Matson news, EVP Peter T. Heilmann sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.15, for a total value of $1,100,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 20,506 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,514,395.90. This represents a 19.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Kuuhaku T. Park sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.49, for a total transaction of $208,490.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 9,984 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,081,564.16. This represents a 9.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 15,262 shares of company stock valued at $3,223,716 over the last three months. Insiders own 2.51% of the company’s stock.

About Matson

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.