Heartland Advisors Inc. Makes New Investment in Marten Transport, Ltd. $MRTN

Heartland Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 350,000 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,072,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Boston Partners bought a new position in shares of Marten Transport during the fourth quarter worth about $10,466,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in Marten Transport by 128.7% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 924,406 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $10,520,000 after purchasing an additional 520,274 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Marten Transport by 128.4% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 921,818 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $9,827,000 after purchasing an additional 518,280 shares during the period. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its stake in Marten Transport by 2,296.2% during the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 444,309 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $4,736,000 after purchasing an additional 425,767 shares during the period. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC grew its position in Marten Transport by 914.7% in the 4th quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 336,522 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $3,830,000 after purchasing an additional 303,357 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.12% of the company’s stock.

Marten Transport Stock Up 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ MRTN opened at $14.93 on Friday. Marten Transport, Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $9.35 and a fifty-two week high of $18.48. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $16.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.11. The stock has a market cap of $1.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 87.82 and a beta of 0.95.

Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The transportation company reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.08 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $223.54 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $227.10 million. Marten Transport had a return on equity of 1.65% and a net margin of 1.47%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.09 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Marten Transport, Ltd. will post 0.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marten Transport Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 16th will be paid a $0.06 dividend. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 16th. Marten Transport’s dividend payout ratio is currently 141.18%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MRTN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Marten Transport in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Stephens decreased their price objective on Marten Transport from $18.00 to $16.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Marten Transport has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $16.00.

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.