Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume

Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN) shares saw strong trading volume on Friday . 144,210 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 68% from the previous session’s volume of 456,626 shares.The stock last traded at $16.56 and had previously closed at $15.97.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Stephens cut their price objective on Marten Transport from $23.00 to $21.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Vertical Research upgraded Marten Transport from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th.

Marten Transport Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $1.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.03 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $18.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.01.

Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The transportation company reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.12. The company had revenue of $249.67 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $262.77 million. Marten Transport had a return on equity of 9.48% and a net margin of 6.22%. The business’s revenue was down 16.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.28 earnings per share.

Marten Transport Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.06 per share. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Marten Transport’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.59%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Marten Transport

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRTN. Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in Marten Transport by 13.4% in the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 55,106 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $979,000 after buying an additional 6,494 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in Marten Transport by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 20,590 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $388,000 after buying an additional 1,014 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Marten Transport by 54.9% in the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 32,340 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $574,000 after buying an additional 11,460 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS grew its holdings in Marten Transport by 14.2% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 51,540 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $915,000 after buying an additional 6,404 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Marten Transport by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,991,568 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $106,413,000 after buying an additional 40,954 shares in the last quarter. 69.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.