Marten Transport, Ltd. $MRTN Shares Purchased by Creative Planning

Creative Planning grew its stake in shares of Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN) by 74.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 108,788 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 46,574 shares during the quarter. Creative Planning owned 0.13% of Marten Transport worth $1,413,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nuance Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Marten Transport by 63.8% during the first quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 5,237,442 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $71,858,000 after purchasing an additional 2,040,631 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Marten Transport during the 1st quarter worth $8,133,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new position in Marten Transport in the 1st quarter worth $3,216,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its position in Marten Transport by 166.7% in the 2nd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 350,512 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $4,553,000 after buying an additional 219,087 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geneva Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Marten Transport by 6.3% during the second quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 3,355,193 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $43,584,000 after acquiring an additional 199,690 shares in the last quarter. 69.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Marten Transport Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MRTN opened at $10.18 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $829.87 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.42 and a beta of 0.94. Marten Transport, Ltd. has a one year low of $9.35 and a one year high of $17.54. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $10.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.83.

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

Marten Transport Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.06 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. Marten Transport’s payout ratio is presently 100.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on MRTN. Wall Street Zen cut Marten Transport from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Marten Transport in a report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Marten Transport currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.