American Century Companies Inc. Buys 133,262 Shares of Marten Transport, Ltd. $MRTN

American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN) by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,220,666 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 133,262 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned 2.72% of Marten Transport worth $23,672,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nuance Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Marten Transport by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 6,122,415 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $65,265,000 after buying an additional 376,487 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in Marten Transport in the third quarter valued at about $1,396,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of Marten Transport by 43.4% during the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 356,397 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $4,630,000 after acquiring an additional 107,935 shares during the period. London Co. of Virginia raised its holdings in shares of Marten Transport by 11.1% in the 2nd quarter. London Co. of Virginia now owns 972,954 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $12,639,000 after purchasing an additional 96,883 shares during the period. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP grew its holdings in Marten Transport by 1,004.1% during the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 81,337 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $867,000 after purchasing an additional 73,970 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 69.12% of the company’s stock.

Marten Transport Stock Down 0.1%

NASDAQ MRTN opened at $12.52 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $12.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $11.58. Marten Transport, Ltd. has a twelve month low of $9.35 and a twelve month high of $15.42. The company has a market capitalization of $1.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.91 and a beta of 0.84.

Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 27th. The transportation company reported $0.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.03 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $210.11 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $207.22 million. Marten Transport had a return on equity of 2.27% and a net margin of 1.97%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.07 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Marten Transport, Ltd. will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marten Transport Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 17th will be given a dividend of $0.06 per share. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 17th. Marten Transport’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 109.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.