Sanctuary Advisors LLC Purchases New Shares in Matson, Inc. $MATX

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

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Matson during the second quarter valued at $1,561,000. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Matson during the 2nd quarter valued at $282,000. Pinnbrook Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Matson in the 2nd quarter worth about $8,807,000. Evolve Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Matson in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,303,000. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Matson in the 2nd quarter worth about $25,390,000. 84.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on MATX shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Matson from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped 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. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Matson from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Matson from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Stephens boosted their price target on Matson from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. One 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.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Laura L. Rascon sold 2,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.53, for a total value of $527,884.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 15,656 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,951,625.68. This represents a 15.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Leonard P. Isotoff sold 1,250 shares of the 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 6,527 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,359,574.10. The trade was a 16.07% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 15,262 shares of company stock valued at $3,223,716. 2.51% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Matson Trading Up 1.1%

NYSE MATX opened at $224.51 on Friday. Matson, Inc. has a 12 month low of $86.97 and a 12 month high of $230.74. 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 moving average price is $209.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $185.71. The stock has a market cap of $6.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.01 and a beta of 1.27.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $3.79 by $0.48. The firm had revenue of $969.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $893.91 million. Matson had a return on equity of 16.94% and a net margin of 13.41%.Matson’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.92 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Matson, Inc. will post 16.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Matson Increases Dividend

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

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.