Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.06

Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, November 29th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of 0.06 per share by the transportation company on Friday, December 27th. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th.

Marten Transport has raised its dividend by an average of 21.6% annually over the last three years. Marten Transport has a dividend payout ratio of 47.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Marten Transport to earn $0.47 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.24 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 51.1%.

Marten Transport Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MRTN opened at $17.38 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $16.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.38 and a beta of 0.79. Marten Transport has a 12-month low of $15.33 and a 12-month high of $21.38.

Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The transportation company reported $0.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $237.37 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $244.00 million. Marten Transport had a net margin of 3.36% and a return on equity of 4.41%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Marten Transport will post 0.32 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on MRTN shares. Raymond James cut Marten Transport from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. StockNews.com cut Marten Transport from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Jerry M. Bauer bought 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were bought at an average price of $15.81 per share, with a total value of $158,100.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 156,444 shares in the company, valued at $2,473,379.64. The trade was a 6.83 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 22.90% of the company’s stock.

About Marten Transport

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.