Nuance Investments LLC Grows Holdings in Marten Transport, Ltd. $MRTN

Nuance Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN) by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,122,415 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 376,487 shares during the period. Marten Transport accounts for 6.6% of Nuance Investments LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Nuance Investments LLC owned approximately 7.51% of Marten Transport worth $65,265,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Marten Transport in the 3rd quarter worth $1,396,000. Creative Planning raised its stake in Marten Transport by 74.9% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 108,788 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,413,000 after buying an additional 46,574 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new stake in Marten Transport in the second quarter worth about $945,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH purchased a new stake in shares of Marten Transport during the second quarter worth about $613,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Marten Transport by 6.4% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,087,404 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $27,115,000 after acquiring an additional 126,331 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MRTN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Marten Transport from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 31st. Zacks Research lowered shares of Marten Transport from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Marten Transport in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Sell rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, Marten Transport has an average rating of “Sell”.

Marten Transport Stock Performance

Shares of Marten Transport stock opened at $13.56 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $12.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $11.40. Marten Transport, Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $9.35 and a fifty-two week high of $15.46. The company has a market cap of $1.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.64 and a beta of 0.86.

Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The transportation company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.03 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $210.11 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $207.22 million. Marten Transport had a return on equity of 2.27% and a net margin of 1.97%.Marten Transport’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.07 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Marten Transport, Ltd. will post 0.41 EPS for the current year.

Marten Transport Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th were given a dividend of $0.06 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 15th. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Marten Transport’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 109.09%.

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.