Matson, Inc. $MATX Shares Sold by First Hawaiian Bank

First Hawaiian Bank trimmed its holdings in Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) by 48.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 13,196 shares of the shipping company’s stock after selling 12,411 shares during the quarter. First Hawaiian Bank’s holdings in Matson were worth $1,630,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in Matson by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,250,636 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $123,300,000 after acquiring an additional 35,229 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Matson by 27.9% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 590,763 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $65,770,000 after purchasing an additional 128,994 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Matson by 144.9% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 455,133 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $44,872,000 after purchasing an additional 269,310 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Matson during the third quarter valued at about $26,415,000. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its stake in shares of Matson by 1.8% during the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 220,462 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $21,735,000 after purchasing an additional 3,817 shares in the last quarter. 84.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Stephens upped their price objective on shares of Matson from $190.00 to $213.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Matson from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 15th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $167.00 price target on shares of Matson in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Matson in a report on Monday, December 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $156.25.

Matson Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of MATX stock opened at $157.99 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $157.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $125.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.33 and a beta of 1.32. Matson, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $86.97 and a fifty-two week high of $177.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The shipping company reported $4.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.69 by $0.91. Matson had a net margin of 13.30% and a return on equity of 16.63%. The firm had revenue of $851.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $847.30 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.80 earnings per share. Matson’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Matson, Inc. will post 13.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Matson Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 5th were paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 5th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Matson’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Matson

In related news, SVP Christopher A. Scott sold 2,509 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.00, for a total transaction of $388,895.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 14,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,252,615. This trade represents a 14.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Kuuhaku T. Park sold 2,000 shares of Matson stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.79, for a total transaction of $339,580.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 13,484 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,289,448.36. This trade represents a 12.92% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 42,550 shares of company stock valued at $7,034,602. Corporate 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.