Artemis Investment Management LLP Decreases Stake in Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX)

Artemis Investment Management LLP decreased its holdings in shares of Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) by 45.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 50,297 shares of the shipping company’s stock after selling 42,576 shares during the quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP owned about 0.15% of Matson worth $6,782,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Matson by 4,167,726.1% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 958,600 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $136,716,000 after acquiring an additional 958,577 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Matson by 126.5% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 240,117 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $31,448,000 after purchasing an additional 134,092 shares during the last quarter. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Matson by 52.1% in the second quarter. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC now owns 356,416 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $46,680,000 after purchasing an additional 122,017 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC purchased a new position in Matson during the fourth quarter worth approximately $9,788,000. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec acquired a new position in Matson during the third quarter worth $6,735,000. 84.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Matson Price Performance

Matson stock opened at $137.48 on Monday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $146.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $138.87. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $100.50 and a 1 year high of $169.12. The company has a market capitalization of $4.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.44 and a beta of 1.07.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The shipping company reported $5.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.98 by $0.91. Matson had a return on equity of 16.89% and a net margin of 12.37%. The company had revenue of $962.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $965.73 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.40 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Matson, Inc. will post 13.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Matson Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.99%. Matson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.31%.

Insider Transactions at Matson

In other Matson news, SVP Leonard P. Isotoff sold 492 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.26, for a total transaction of $79,339.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,254 shares in the company, valued at $686,000.04. The trade was a 10.37 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP John Warren Sullivan sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.50, for a total transaction of $124,125.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 12,745 shares in the company, valued at $2,109,297.50. The trade was a 5.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 9,646 shares of company stock valued at $1,578,768. 2.32% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Matson from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Matson in a report on Thursday, January 2nd.

Matson 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.