State Street Corp Raises Holdings in Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN)

State Street Corp increased its position in Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN) by 0.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,339,644 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 14,088 shares during the period. State Street Corp’s holdings in Marten Transport were worth $41,412,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRTN. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Marten Transport in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $267,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Marten Transport in the third quarter valued at $686,000. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its position in Marten Transport by 4.7% in the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 351,880 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $6,228,000 after purchasing an additional 15,700 shares during the last quarter. Atom Investors LP raised its stake in Marten Transport by 19.5% during the third quarter. Atom Investors LP now owns 56,440 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $999,000 after purchasing an additional 9,217 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC bought a new position in Marten Transport during the third quarter valued at $216,000. 69.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Marten Transport Stock Down 1.9 %

NASDAQ MRTN opened at $15.60 on Friday. Marten Transport, Ltd. has a 52 week low of $15.33 and a 52 week high of $21.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.14 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a fifty day moving average of $16.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $17.28.

Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The transportation company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by ($0.02). Marten Transport had a return on equity of 4.41% and a net margin of 3.36%. The firm had revenue of $237.37 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $244.00 million. Equities research analysts anticipate that Marten Transport, Ltd. will post 0.32 EPS for the current year.

Marten Transport Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.54%. Marten Transport’s payout ratio is 57.14%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRTN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Raymond James downgraded shares of Marten Transport from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. StockNews.com lowered Marten Transport from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Jerry M. Bauer acquired 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $15.81 per share, with a total value of $158,100.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 156,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,473,379.64. This represents a 6.83 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 22.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Marten Transport

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.