Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. Takes Position in Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX)

Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. bought a new position in shares of Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,400 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $342,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Matson by 4,167,726.1% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 958,600 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $136,716,000 after acquiring an additional 958,577 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Matson by 4.2% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 911,827 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $119,422,000 after purchasing an additional 36,901 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Matson by 5.5% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 395,716 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $56,437,000 after purchasing an additional 20,568 shares during the last quarter. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Matson by 52.1% during the second quarter. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC now owns 356,416 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $46,680,000 after purchasing an additional 122,017 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Matson by 126.5% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 240,117 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $31,448,000 after purchasing an additional 134,092 shares in the last quarter. 84.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Matson Stock Down 0.2 %

MATX opened at $152.39 on Friday. Matson, Inc. has a 12 month low of $94.58 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 business’s 50-day moving average price is $147.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $135.08. The company has a market cap of $5.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.68 and a beta of 1.04.

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

Matson Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were given a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 7th. Matson’s payout ratio is 11.31%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MATX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wolfe Research cut Matson from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Matson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Matson

In related news, SVP Leonard P. Isotoff sold 492 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.26, for a total value of $79,339.92. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,254 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $686,000.04. This trade represents a 10.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Rusty K. Rolfe sold 3,000 shares of Matson 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 21,871 shares in the company, 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. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 16,145 shares of company stock worth $2,513,455. 2.32% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.