Marten Transport, Ltd. (MRTN) To Go Ex-Dividend on December 15th

Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, November 24th. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th will be paid a dividend of 0.06 per share by the transportation company on Monday, December 29th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th.

Marten Transport has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 0.1%annually over the last three years. Marten Transport has a dividend payout ratio of 46.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Marten Transport to earn $0.71 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.24 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 33.8%.

Marten Transport Trading Up 3.6%

MRTN opened at $10.15 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $10.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $11.87. The company has a market capitalization of $827.43 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.29 and a beta of 0.94. Marten Transport has a 12-month low of $9.35 and a 12-month high of $17.54.

Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The transportation company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.04 by ($0.01). Marten Transport had a return on equity of 2.52% and a net margin of 2.14%.The business had revenue of $194.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $230.38 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.05 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Marten Transport will post 0.41 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRTN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Marten Transport in a research note on Monday. Wall Street Zen downgraded Marten Transport from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Marten Transport presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $19.00.

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.