Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. Grows Stock Position in Marten Transport, Ltd. $MRTN

Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN) by 10.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 767,686 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 74,416 shares during the quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. owned approximately 0.94% of Marten Transport worth $10,080,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in shares of Marten Transport by 12.0% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 17,028 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $234,000 after purchasing an additional 1,826 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Marten Transport by 18.7% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 61,335 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $842,000 after purchasing an additional 9,654 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in shares of Marten Transport by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 34,496 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $473,000 after purchasing an additional 1,447 shares during the last quarter. Caxton Associates LLP purchased a new stake in Marten Transport in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $158,000. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in Marten Transport in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $96,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Stephens downgraded Marten Transport from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Zacks Research upgraded Marten Transport from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Robert W. Baird raised Marten Transport to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Marten Transport in a research report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Marten Transport has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Marten Transport Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MRTN opened at $17.46 on Friday. Marten Transport, Ltd. has a 1 year low of $9.35 and a 1 year high of $18.48. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $16.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $14.14. The firm has a market cap of $1.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 91.90 and a beta of 0.93.

Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The transportation company reported $0.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.03 by ($0.01). Marten Transport had a net margin of 1.68% and a return on equity of 1.89%. The business had revenue of $203.53 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $207.20 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.05 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Marten Transport, Ltd. will post 0.22 EPS for the current year.

Marten Transport Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 16th were given a $0.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 16th. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Marten Transport’s payout ratio is currently 126.32%.

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.