Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.34

Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, June 27th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Thursday, August 1st will be given a dividend of 0.34 per share by the shipping company on Thursday, September 5th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 1st. This is an increase from Matson’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32.

Matson has increased its dividend payment by an average of 11.9% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 13 years. Matson has a dividend payout ratio of 14.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Matson to earn $8.91 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.36 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 15.3%.

Matson Stock Up 0.1 %

MATX opened at $132.19 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 0.97. Matson has a fifty-two week low of $82.68 and a fifty-two week high of $135.17. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $125.72 and its 200 day moving average is $116.80. The stock has a market cap of $4.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.59 and a beta of 1.09.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The shipping company reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $722.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $730.44 million. Matson had a net margin of 9.61% and a return on equity of 12.66%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.94 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Matson will post 10.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MATX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Matson in a report on Friday, May 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Matson from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Matson from $109.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st.

Insider Activity at Matson

In related news, SVP Leonard P. Isotoff sold 2,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.48, for a total transaction of $314,944.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,746 shares in the company, valued at approximately $533,830.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Matson news, SVP John Warren Sullivan sold 893 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.60, for a total value of $98,765.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,495 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,492,547. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Leonard P. Isotoff sold 2,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.48, for a total transaction of $314,944.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,746 shares in the company, valued at $533,830.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 74,624 shares of company stock worth $9,501,939. Insiders own 2.32% of the company’s stock.

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.