Marten Transport, Ltd. (MRTN) To Go Ex-Dividend on September 16th

Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, August 14th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of 0.06 per share by the transportation company on Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th.

Marten Transport has raised its dividend payment by an average of 21.6% annually over the last three years. Marten Transport has a dividend payout ratio of 30.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Marten Transport to earn $0.92 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 26.1%.

Marten Transport Price Performance

Shares of Marten Transport stock traded down $0.01 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $17.27. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 11,008 shares, compared to its average volume of 438,961. Marten Transport has a 12 month low of $15.33 and a 12 month high of $21.92. The company has a market capitalization of $1.41 billion, a PE ratio of 24.34 and a beta of 0.77. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $17.77 and a 200 day moving average of $18.02.

Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The transportation company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.11 by ($0.01). Marten Transport had a return on equity of 5.74% and a net margin of 4.17%. The business had revenue of $246.24 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $249.11 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.27 earnings per share. Marten Transport’s revenue was down 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Marten Transport will post 0.55 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on MRTN. StockNews.com raised Marten Transport from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Stephens lowered their price target on Marten Transport from $23.00 to $21.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. Raymond James began coverage on Marten Transport in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $20.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Vertical Research cut Marten Transport from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price 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 given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Adam Daniel Phillips sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was 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 directly owns 7,448 shares in the company, valued at approximately $136,596.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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.