7,864 Shares in Matson, Inc. $MATX Purchased by Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc.

Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 7,864 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,512,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MATX. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Matson by 3.4% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,402 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $462,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Matson by 57.3% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 258 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in Matson by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 30,624 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $5,021,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in Matson by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 14,749 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $2,418,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP acquired a new stake in Matson during the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. 84.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP John Warren Sullivan sold 1,917 shares of Matson stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.49, for a total transaction of $399,675.33. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 7,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,590,778.70. The trade was a 20.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Vic S. Angoco, Jr. sold 2,293 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.76, for a total value of $510,788.68. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 12,507 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,786,059.32. This represents a 15.49% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 15,262 shares of company stock worth $3,223,716 over the last 90 days. 2.51% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Matson Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:MATX opened at $224.51 on Monday. 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 stock has a market cap of $6.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.01 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a 50 day moving average of $209.37 and a 200-day moving average of $185.88. Matson, Inc. has a one year low of $86.97 and a one year high of $230.74.

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

Matson Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Stockholders 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 6th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Matson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.