Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) Hits New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $15.42 and last traded at $13.7240, with a volume of 446328 shares. The stock had previously closed at $13.63.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRTN has been the topic of several research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Marten Transport from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, January 31st. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Marten Transport in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Marten Transport from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Sell rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Sell”.

Marten Transport Stock Up 2.0%

The firm has a market capitalization of $1.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.95 and a beta of 0.86. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $12.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $11.47.

Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The transportation company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.03 by $0.02. Marten Transport had a net margin of 1.97% and a return on equity of 2.27%. The company had revenue of $210.11 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $207.22 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.07 EPS. Marten Transport’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Marten Transport, Ltd. will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Marten Transport Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 29th. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th were given a dividend of $0.06 per share. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 15th. Marten Transport’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 109.09%.

Institutional Trading of Marten Transport

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MRTN. AlphaQuest LLC lifted its position in shares of Marten Transport by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 121,536 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,383,000 after acquiring an additional 755 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lifted its holdings in shares of Marten Transport by 7.3% in the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 14,855 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $193,000 after acquiring an additional 1,014 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in Marten Transport by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 76,690 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $818,000 after buying an additional 1,271 shares during the period. Fox Run Management L.L.C. boosted its stake in shares of Marten Transport by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. now owns 21,114 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $274,000 after buying an additional 1,362 shares during the period. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in Marten Transport by 4.4% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 34,496 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $473,000 after buying an additional 1,447 shares in the last quarter. 69.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Marten Transport

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.