Stephens Cuts Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) Price Target to $16.00

Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) had its price target trimmed by Stephens from $18.00 to $16.00 in a research report report published on Friday, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the transportation company’s stock.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Marten Transport in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Marten Transport to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Marten Transport has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $16.00.

Marten Transport Stock Performance

Shares of MRTN stock opened at $16.30 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 95.88 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $17.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $14.79. Marten Transport has a fifty-two week low of $9.35 and a fifty-two week high of $18.48.

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

Marten Transport Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $0.06 per share. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 16th. Marten Transport’s dividend payout ratio is 141.18%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Marten Transport

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRTN. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. raised its position in shares of Marten Transport by 47.1% during the fourth quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 693,270 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $7,889,000 after purchasing an additional 221,851 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP bought a new position in shares of Marten Transport in the 4th quarter worth $3,186,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its position in Marten Transport by 22.3% in the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 487,595 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $5,549,000 after purchasing an additional 88,891 shares during the period. Heartland Advisors Inc. grew its position in Marten Transport by 16.7% in the 1st quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. now owns 350,000 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $4,596,000 after purchasing an additional 50,000 shares during the period. Finally, Nuance Investments LLC grew its position in Marten Transport by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 6,267,340 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $71,322,000 after purchasing an additional 144,925 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.12% of the company’s stock.

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.