Heartland Advisors Inc. Purchases 50,000 Shares of Marten Transport, Ltd. $MRTN

Heartland Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN) by 16.7% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 350,000 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 50,000 shares during the quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Marten Transport were worth $4,596,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MRTN. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in Marten Transport by 23.1% in the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 33,599 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $441,000 after buying an additional 6,308 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Marten Transport by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 281,433 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $3,695,000 after buying an additional 5,553 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in Marten Transport by 2,400.6% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 20,405 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $268,000 after acquiring an additional 19,589 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in Marten Transport by 2.4% during the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 79,083 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,026,000 after acquiring an additional 1,874 shares during the period. Finally, Granite Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Marten Transport in the first quarter valued at about $142,000. 69.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on MRTN shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Marten Transport in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Robert W. Baird raised Marten Transport to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, Stephens raised Marten Transport to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Marten Transport has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Marten Transport Stock Performance

MRTN opened at $17.65 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $17.08 and a 200 day moving average of $14.59. Marten Transport, Ltd. has a 12 month low of $9.35 and a 12 month high of $18.48. The firm has a market cap of $1.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 92.90 and a beta of 0.93.

Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The transportation company reported $0.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.03 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $203.53 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $207.20 million. Marten Transport had a net margin of 1.68% and a return on equity of 1.89%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.05 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Marten Transport, Ltd. will post 0.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marten Transport Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 16th were given a dividend of $0.06 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 16th. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Marten Transport’s payout ratio is currently 126.32%.

Marten Transport Company Profile

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.