Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) Short Interest Down 15.5% in January

Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) was the target of a large drop in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 938,200 shares, a drop of 15.5% from the December 31st total of 1,110,000 shares. Currently, 2.9% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 250,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.7 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research cut Matson from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Matson in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd.

Insider Activity

In other Matson news, EVP Peter T. Heilmann sold 5,404 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.36, for a total transaction of $877,393.44. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 32,952 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,350,086.72. The trade was a 14.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Rusty K. Rolfe sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.97, for a total value of $497,910.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 21,871 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,629,929.87. This trade represents a 12.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 9,646 shares of company stock worth $1,578,768. 2.32% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Matson

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Matson in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $50,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new stake in Matson in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $92,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Matson by 45.6% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,096 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $156,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Matson by 1,661.3% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,092 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $156,000 after purchasing an additional 1,030 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its stake in shares of Matson by 80.4% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,198 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $171,000 after purchasing an additional 534 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.76% of the company’s stock.

Matson Stock Up 0.5 %

NYSE:MATX traded up $0.64 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $141.98. The company had a trading volume of 275,560 shares, compared to its average volume of 199,609. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.81 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $142.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $139.59. Matson has a 12-month low of $100.50 and a 12-month high of $169.12.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The shipping company reported $5.89 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.98 by $0.91. The business had revenue of $962.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $965.73 million. Matson had a return on equity of 16.89% and a net margin of 12.37%. The business’s revenue was up 16.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.40 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Matson will post 13.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Matson Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 6th will be given a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 6th. Matson’s payout ratio is 11.31%.

Matson Company Profile

Matson, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of ocean transportation and logistics services. It operates through two segments, Ocean Transportation and Logistics. The Ocean Transportation segment offers ocean freight transportation services to the domestic non-contiguous economies of Hawaii, Japan, Alaska, and Guam, as well as to other island economies in Micronesia.