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

Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, November 29th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of 0.06 per share by the transportation company on Friday, December 27th. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 Stock Up 0.6 %

MRTN stock traded up $0.10 during trading on Friday, hitting $17.38. The company had a trading volume of 139,156 shares, compared to its average volume of 400,739. The firm has a market cap of $1.42 billion, a PE ratio of 41.14 and a beta of 0.79. Marten Transport has a 1-year low of $15.33 and a 1-year high of $21.38. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $16.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $17.36.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Raymond James cut Marten Transport from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. StockNews.com cut Marten Transport from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Jerry M. Bauer bought 10,000 shares of Marten Transport stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $15.81 per share, with a total value of $158,100.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 156,444 shares in the company, valued at $2,473,379.64. This represents a 6.83 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 22.90% of the company’s stock.

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.