Hodges Capital Management Inc. Boosts Holdings in Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN)

Hodges Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN) by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 117,500 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,400 shares during the quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. owned 0.14% of Marten Transport worth $2,080,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nuance Investments LLC boosted its holdings 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 last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Marten Transport by 13.1% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,402,776 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $25,881,000 after acquiring an additional 162,924 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Marten Transport by 6.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 692,385 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $12,775,000 after acquiring an additional 41,505 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Marten Transport in the second quarter worth about $1,172,000. Finally, Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Marten Transport in the second quarter worth about $5,334,000. 69.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MRTN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Raymond James downgraded shares of Marten Transport from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Marten Transport from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd.

Marten Transport Stock Down 0.5 %

MRTN opened at $16.93 on Monday. Marten Transport, Ltd. has a twelve month low of $15.33 and a twelve month high of $21.38. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $16.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.32. The company has a market cap of $1.38 billion, a PE ratio of 40.31 and a beta of 0.82.

Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The transportation company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.07 by ($0.02). Marten Transport had a return on equity of 4.41% and a net margin of 3.36%. The company had revenue of $237.37 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $244.00 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Marten Transport, Ltd. will post 0.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Marten Transport Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.42%. Marten Transport’s payout ratio is 57.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Marten Transport

In other Marten Transport news, Director Jerry M. Bauer acquired 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was bought at an average price of $15.81 per share, for a total transaction of $158,100.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 156,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,473,379.64. The trade was a 6.83 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 22.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.