Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN) Shares Sold by Avantax Advisory Services Inc.

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. reduced its stake in Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN) by 18.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,010 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 5,631 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Marten Transport were worth $390,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Marten Transport by 22.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 685,308 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $12,130,000 after buying an additional 126,150 shares in the last quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Marten Transport by 158.0% in the fourth quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 303,200 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $4,732,000 after acquiring an additional 185,700 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Marten Transport by 140.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 136,498 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,416,000 after purchasing an additional 79,689 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Marten Transport by 1.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,410,882 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $24,977,000 after purchasing an additional 14,951 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Marten Transport by 4.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 940,431 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $16,646,000 after purchasing an additional 38,990 shares during the period. 69.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Stephens boosted their price objective on shares of Marten Transport from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th.

Marten Transport Price Performance

MRTN opened at $13.93 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.13 billion, a PE ratio of 40.97 and a beta of 0.84. Marten Transport, Ltd. has a 12-month low of $13.45 and a 12-month high of $19.26. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $14.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $16.05.

Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The transportation company reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.06 by $0.01. Marten Transport had a net margin of 2.79% and a return on equity of 3.52%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Marten Transport, Ltd. will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marten Transport Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.06 dividend. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Marten Transport’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 70.59%.

Marten Transport Company 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.