Geneva Capital Management LLC Reduces Position in Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN)

Geneva Capital Management LLC cut its position in shares of Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,140,280 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 91,324 shares during the period. Geneva Capital Management LLC owned approximately 3.86% of Marten Transport worth $49,020,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MRTN. Nuance Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Marten Transport by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 2,627,111 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $46,500,000 after buying an additional 303,132 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in shares of Marten Transport by 3,788.8% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 263,425 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $4,112,000 after purchasing an additional 256,651 shares in the last quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Marten Transport by 158.0% in the 4th quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 303,200 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $4,732,000 after purchasing an additional 185,700 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Marten Transport by 22.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 685,308 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $12,130,000 after purchasing an additional 126,150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Marten Transport by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,024,117 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $15,986,000 after purchasing an additional 83,686 shares in the last quarter. 69.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Marten Transport Stock Performance

NASDAQ MRTN opened at $14.27 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $15.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $16.39. Marten Transport, Ltd. has a one year low of $14.17 and a one year high of $19.34. The firm has a market cap of $1.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.97 and a beta of 0.83.

Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The transportation company reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities analysts predict that Marten Transport, Ltd. will post 0.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marten Transport Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.06 per share. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Marten Transport’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 70.59%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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 research note on Tuesday, January 28th.

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.