Stephens Reiterates Overweight Rating for Matson (NYSE:MATX)

Matson (NYSE:MATX)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating restated by equities research analysts at Stephens in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $165.00 target price on the shipping company’s stock. Stephens’ price objective suggests a potential upside of 17.76% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on MATX. Wolfe Research downgraded Matson from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. StockNews.com lowered Matson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th.

Matson Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of MATX opened at $140.11 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.65 billion, a PE ratio of 11.66 and a beta of 1.04. The company’s fifty day moving average is $148.95 and its 200 day moving average is $137.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.13. Matson has a fifty-two week low of $100.50 and a fifty-two week high of $169.12.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The shipping company reported $5.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.98 by $0.91. The company 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.40 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Matson will post 13.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Matson

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Matson

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Matson during the 2nd quarter valued at about $34,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Matson during the second quarter worth about $39,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Matson during the third quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. acquired a new position in Matson in the second quarter valued at approximately $79,000. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new stake in Matson in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $92,000. 84.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.