Royce & Associates LP Purchases New Holdings in Marten Transport, Ltd. $MRTN

Royce & Associates LP purchased a new stake in shares of Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 280,000 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,186,000. Royce & Associates LP owned 0.34% of Marten Transport as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in Marten Transport during the third quarter valued at about $1,396,000. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. boosted its holdings in Marten Transport by 47.1% during the fourth quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 693,270 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $7,889,000 after purchasing an additional 221,851 shares in the last quarter. Nuance Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Marten Transport by 6.6% during the third quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 6,122,415 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $65,265,000 after purchasing an additional 376,487 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its holdings in Marten Transport by 22.3% during the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 487,595 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $5,549,000 after purchasing an additional 88,891 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Marten Transport by 6.4% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,220,666 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $23,672,000 after purchasing an additional 133,262 shares in the last quarter. 69.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on MRTN shares. Weiss Ratings raised Marten Transport from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. Wall Street Zen raised Marten Transport from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, January 31st. Robert W. Baird raised Marten Transport to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Zacks Research raised Marten Transport from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Stephens downgraded Marten Transport from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Marten Transport Price Performance

Shares of MRTN opened at $17.25 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 90.81 and a beta of 0.89. Marten Transport, Ltd. has a one year low of $9.35 and a one year high of $17.60. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $14.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $12.93.

Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The transportation company reported $0.02 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.03 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $203.53 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $207.20 million. Marten Transport had a return on equity of 1.89% and a net margin of 1.68%.The firm’s revenue was down 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.05 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Marten Transport, Ltd. will post 0.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marten Transport Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 16th will be issued a $0.06 dividend. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 16th. Marten Transport’s payout ratio is presently 126.32%.

Marten Transport Company Profile

Marten Transport, Inc is a North American transportation services provider offering temperature-controlled and dry van truckload services. Founded in 1946 and headquartered in Mondovi, Wisconsin, the company specializes in full truckload, dedicated contract carriage, intermodal and port drayage solutions. Its core focus on refrigerated and produce freight has made it a key partner for food manufacturers, retailers and other shippers requiring strict temperature management.

The company maintains a modern fleet of tractors and trailers equipped with advanced telematics, electronic logging devices and continuous temperature monitoring.