Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) Declares $0.32 Quarterly Dividend

Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 25th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 9th will be given a dividend of 0.32 per share by the shipping company on Thursday, June 6th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 8th.

Matson has raised its dividend by an average of 11.9% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 12 years. Matson has a dividend payout ratio of 14.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Matson to earn $7.91 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.28 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 16.2%.

Matson Stock Up 3.9 %

Shares of MATX opened at $113.36 on Monday. Matson has a 52-week low of $62.71 and a 52-week high of $122.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $108.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $106.20. The company has a market capitalization of $3.87 billion, a PE ratio of 13.37 and a beta of 1.12.

Matson (NYSE:MATX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The shipping company reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.05. Matson had a net margin of 9.61% and a return on equity of 12.66%. The firm had revenue of $722.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $730.44 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share. Matson’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Matson will post 8.51 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Matson

In other Matson news, SVP Christopher A. Scott sold 1,171 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.83, for a total value of $126,268.93. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 12,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,397,261.14. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.32% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Matson from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Matson from $109.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st.

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.