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

Heartland Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN) by 16.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 350,000 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 50,000 shares during the quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. owned 0.43% of Marten Transport worth $4,596,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. AlphaQuest LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Marten Transport by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 121,536 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,383,000 after purchasing an additional 755 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in Marten Transport by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 76,690 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $818,000 after acquiring an additional 1,271 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Marten Transport by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 34,496 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $473,000 after acquiring an additional 1,447 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in shares of Marten Transport by 3.4% in the third quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 48,628 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $518,000 after acquiring an additional 1,595 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in shares of Marten Transport by 12.0% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 17,028 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $234,000 after purchasing an additional 1,826 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Marten Transport Stock Performance

Shares of Marten Transport stock opened at $17.65 on Monday. Marten Transport, Ltd. has a one year low of $9.35 and a one year high of $18.48. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $17.08 and its 200 day moving average is $14.59. The stock 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 released its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The transportation company reported $0.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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%. Marten Transport’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.05 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Marten Transport, Ltd. will post 0.25 EPS for the current year.

Marten Transport Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 16th. Marten Transport’s payout ratio is presently 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.