London Co. of Virginia Raises Position in Marten Transport, Ltd. $MRTN

London Co. of Virginia grew its stake in Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN) by 5.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 889,273 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 48,697 shares during the quarter. London Co. of Virginia’s holdings in Marten Transport were worth $11,676,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in Marten Transport by 8.0% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 676,584 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $8,884,000 after buying an additional 50,264 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in Marten Transport by 79.1% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 220,314 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,893,000 after acquiring an additional 97,270 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming purchased a new position in Marten Transport during the 1st quarter worth $68,000. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Marten Transport by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 304,165 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $3,994,000 after acquiring an additional 2,884 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Marten Transport by 27.5% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 11,572 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $152,000 after acquiring an additional 2,499 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Marten Transport to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Stephens dropped their price target on shares of Marten Transport from $18.00 to $16.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Marten Transport in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $16.00.

Marten Transport Trading Down 3.4%

Shares of MRTN opened at $16.30 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 95.88 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $17.27 and a 200 day moving average of $14.77. Marten Transport, Ltd. has a 12 month low of $9.35 and a 12 month high of $18.48.

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). Marten Transport had a return on equity of 1.65% and a net margin of 1.47%.The business had revenue of $223.54 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $227.10 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.09 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Marten Transport, Ltd. will post 0.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Marten Transport Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $0.06 per share. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 16th. Marten Transport’s payout ratio 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.