Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN) Shares Purchased by Quest Partners LLC

Quest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN) by 1,562.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 65,741 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 61,786 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC owned approximately 0.08% of Marten Transport worth $1,213,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Confluence Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Marten Transport in the first quarter valued at about $2,988,000. Empirical Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Marten Transport in the 4th quarter worth approximately $9,997,000. SG Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Marten Transport in the first quarter valued at $2,058,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Marten Transport by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,338,538 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $91,023,000 after acquiring an additional 132,407 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Marten Transport during the second quarter worth approximately $1,172,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.12% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Marten Transport

In other Marten Transport news, COO Adam Daniel Phillips sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.34, for a total transaction of $82,530.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 7,448 shares in the company, valued at approximately $136,596.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 22.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MRTN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Vertical Research downgraded shares of Marten Transport from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $22.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. StockNews.com raised shares of Marten Transport from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Raymond James assumed coverage on shares of Marten Transport in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $20.00 target price for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.00.

Marten Transport Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of Marten Transport stock opened at $17.02 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.97 and a beta of 0.77. Marten Transport, Ltd. has a twelve month low of $15.33 and a twelve month high of $21.38. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $17.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.76.

Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The transportation company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.11 by ($0.01). Marten Transport had a return on equity of 5.74% and a net margin of 4.17%. The company had revenue of $246.24 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $249.11 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.27 earnings per share. Marten Transport’s quarterly revenue was down 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Marten Transport, Ltd. will post 0.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Marten Transport Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a $0.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.41%. Marten Transport’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.80%.

Marten Transport Company Profile

Marten Transport, Ltd. operates as a temperature-sensitive truckload carrier for shippers in the United State, Mexico, and Canada. The company operates through four segments: Truckload, Dedicated, Intermodal, and Brokerage. The Truckload segment transports food and other consumer packaged goods that require a temperature-controlled or insulated environment, as well as dry freight; and regional short-haul and medium-to-long-haul full-load transportation services.