London Co. of Virginia Sells 53,983 Shares of Marten Transport, Ltd. $MRTN

London Co. of Virginia lessened its holdings in shares of Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN) by 6.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 840,576 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 53,983 shares during the period. London Co. of Virginia’s holdings in Marten Transport were worth $9,566,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Nuance Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Marten Transport by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 6,267,340 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $71,322,000 after acquiring an additional 144,925 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Marten Transport by 0.8% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,241,782 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $45,217,000 after acquiring an additional 32,843 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Marten Transport by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,442,309 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $27,793,000 after acquiring an additional 16,547 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Marten Transport by 6.4% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,220,666 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $23,672,000 after acquiring an additional 133,262 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Marten Transport by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,232,442 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $14,025,000 after acquiring an additional 119,001 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Zacks Research upgraded Marten Transport from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. Robert W. Baird upgraded Marten Transport to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Stephens downgraded Marten Transport from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Marten Transport from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Marten Transport currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Marten Transport Stock Down 2.2%

Shares of MRTN stock opened at $17.38 on Wednesday. Marten Transport, Ltd. has a twelve month low of $9.35 and a twelve month high of $18.48. The stock has a market cap of $1.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 91.48 and a beta of 0.93. The business’s fifty day moving average is $15.84 and its 200 day moving average is $13.63.

Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The transportation company reported $0.02 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.03 by ($0.01). Marten Transport had a return on equity of 1.89% and a net margin of 1.68%.The company had revenue of $203.53 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $207.20 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.05 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Marten Transport, Ltd. will post 0.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marten Transport Dividend Announcement

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

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.