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

Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 24th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be paid a dividend of 0.34 per share by the shipping company on Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th.

Matson has raised its dividend by an average of 11.9% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 13 consecutive years. Matson has a dividend payout ratio of 14.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Matson to earn $9.11 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 14.9%.

Matson Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MATX traded down $0.04 during trading on Friday, hitting $133.31. 117,800 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 272,645. The company has a market cap of $4.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.78 and a beta of 1.07. Matson has a 1 year low of $82.68 and a 1 year high of $144.93. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $135.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $126.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.93.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The shipping company reported $3.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $847.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $861.68 million. Matson had a net margin of 10.41% and a return on equity of 13.87%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Matson will post 11.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Matson

In other news, CEO Matthew J. Cox sold 6,499 shares of Matson stock in a transaction on Monday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.82, for a total transaction of $934,686.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 208,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,043,710.36. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Jason Lee Taylor sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.73, for a total value of $135,730.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,274,776.16. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Matthew J. Cox sold 6,499 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.82, for a total transaction of $934,686.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 208,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,043,710.36. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 49,736 shares of company stock valued at $6,672,494 in the last 90 days. 2.32% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MATX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Matson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Stephens lifted their price target on Matson from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd.

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.