132,866 Shares in Marten Transport, Ltd. $MRTN Purchased by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 132,866 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,305,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRTN. Boston Partners bought a new stake in Marten Transport during the fourth quarter worth about $10,466,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Marten Transport by 128.7% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 924,406 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $10,520,000 after acquiring an additional 520,274 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Marten Transport by 128.4% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 921,818 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $9,827,000 after acquiring an additional 518,280 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Marten Transport by 2,296.2% in the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 444,309 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $4,736,000 after acquiring an additional 425,767 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Heartland Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Marten Transport during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $6,072,000. 69.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Marten Transport in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Stephens decreased their target price on Marten Transport from $18.00 to $16.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $16.00.

Marten Transport Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of MRTN opened at $14.40 on Friday. Marten Transport, Ltd. has a 12-month low of $9.35 and a 12-month high of $18.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.18 billion, a PE ratio of 84.71 and a beta of 0.95. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $15.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $15.17.

Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The transportation company reported $0.07 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $223.54 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $227.10 million. Marten Transport had a return on equity of 1.65% and a net margin of 1.47%.Marten Transport’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.09 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Marten Transport, Ltd. will post 0.27 EPS for the current year.

Marten Transport Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 16th will be paid a $0.06 dividend. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 16th. Marten Transport’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 141.18%.

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.