Bristol Gate Capital Partners Inc. Makes New Investment in Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX)

Bristol Gate Capital Partners Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 1,500 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in Matson in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. IFP Advisors Inc acquired a new stake in Matson in the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. U S Global Investors Inc. purchased a new stake in Matson in the 4th quarter worth $111,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Matson by 339.5% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 901 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $122,000 after purchasing an additional 696 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC grew its position in shares of Matson by 31.4% in the fourth quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 1,059 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $143,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Matson from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Stephens upped their price objective on shares of Matson from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP John P. Lauer sold 7,985 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.73, for a total value of $1,075,819.05. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 25,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,394,118.16. This trade represents a 24.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Richard S. Kinney sold 1,997 shares of Matson stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.11, for a total value of $273,808.67. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,155,151.75. This trade represents a 19.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.05% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Matson Price Performance

Matson stock opened at $112.26 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $135.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $140.91. Matson, Inc. has a 12-month low of $100.50 and a 12-month high of $169.12. 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 has a market cap of $3.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.34 and a beta of 1.12.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The shipping company reported $3.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.20 by $0.60. The company had revenue of $890.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $851.78 million. Matson had a return on equity of 16.89% and a net margin of 12.37%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Matson, Inc. will post 13.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Matson Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 6th were paid a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 6th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.21%. Matson’s payout ratio is presently 9.69%.

About Matson

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.