Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) Price Target Lowered to $21.00 at Stephens

Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) had its price target cut by Stephens from $23.00 to $21.00 in a research report released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the transportation company’s stock.

Separately, Vertical Research upgraded shares of Marten Transport from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $25.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th.

Marten Transport Trading Down 1.9 %

NASDAQ:MRTN opened at $16.24 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $18.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $18.96. The stock has a market cap of $1.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.87 and a beta of 0.79. Marten Transport has a 1-year low of $15.33 and a 1-year high of $23.38.

Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The transportation company reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.12. Marten Transport had a return on equity of 7.65% and a net margin of 5.31%. The firm had revenue of $249.67 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $262.77 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.28 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 16.2% compared to the same quarter last year.

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 given a dividend of $0.06 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.48%. Marten Transport’s payout ratio is 33.80%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MRTN. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in Marten Transport by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 387,770 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $7,166,000 after buying an additional 6,429 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Marten Transport in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,988,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Marten Transport by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,338,538 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $91,023,000 after purchasing an additional 132,407 shares in the last quarter. Penn Capital Management Company LLC bought a new stake in Marten Transport during the fourth quarter worth $1,655,000. Finally, Empirical Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Marten Transport during the 4th quarter worth $9,997,000. Institutional investors own 69.12% of the company’s stock.

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.