Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. Increases Stake in Marten Transport, Ltd. $MRTN

Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. increased its stake in Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN) by 10.7% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 767,686 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 74,416 shares during the period. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc.’s holdings in Marten Transport were worth $10,080,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its position in Marten Transport by 2,083.8% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 2,555 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 2,438 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Marten Transport by 660.8% in the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,929 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 2,544 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Marten Transport in the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Marten Transport by 3,553.8% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,873 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 3,767 shares during the period. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its holdings in Marten Transport by 378.7% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 5,610 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 4,438 shares during the last quarter. 69.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on MRTN. Stephens downgraded Marten Transport from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Zacks Research upgraded Marten Transport from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Marten Transport in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded Marten Transport to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Marten Transport Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of MRTN stock opened at $17.46 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $16.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $14.14. Marten Transport, Ltd. has a 52 week low of $9.35 and a 52 week high of $18.48. The company has a market cap of $1.42 billion, a PE ratio of 91.90 and a beta of 0.93.

Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The transportation company reported $0.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.03 by ($0.01). Marten Transport had a return on equity of 1.89% and a net margin of 1.68%.The business had revenue of $203.53 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $207.20 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.05 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Marten Transport, Ltd. will post 0.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marten Transport Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 16th were issued a dividend of $0.06 per share. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 16th. Marten Transport’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 126.32%.

Marten Transport 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.