WINTON GROUP Ltd Raises Stake in Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN)

WINTON GROUP Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN) by 43.9% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 49,811 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 15,186 shares during the quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd’s holdings in Marten Transport were worth $919,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MRTN. Confluence Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Marten Transport in the 1st quarter valued at about $2,988,000. Empirical Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Marten Transport in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $9,997,000. SG Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Marten Transport in the first quarter worth approximately $2,058,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Marten Transport by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,338,538 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $91,023,000 after acquiring an additional 132,407 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuance Investments LLC raised its position in Marten Transport by 78.0% in the second quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 2,323,979 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $42,877,000 after purchasing an additional 1,018,673 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.12% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Marten Transport news, COO Adam Daniel Phillips sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.34, for a total value of $82,530.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 7,448 shares in the company, valued at $136,596.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 22.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MRTN. StockNews.com raised Marten Transport from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Vertical Research cut shares of Marten Transport from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $22.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $20.00.

Marten Transport Stock Up 0.5 %

MRTN opened at $17.25 on Tuesday. Marten Transport, Ltd. has a 52 week low of $15.33 and a 52 week high of $21.38. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $17.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $17.69. The firm has a market cap of $1.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.30 and a beta of 0.77.

Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The transportation company reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $246.24 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $249.11 million. Marten Transport had a net margin of 4.17% and a return on equity of 5.74%. The business’s revenue was down 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.27 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Marten Transport, Ltd. will post 0.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Marten Transport Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.06 per share. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. Marten Transport’s payout ratio is currently 33.80%.

Marten Transport 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.