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

Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, August 14th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given 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 is Monday, September 16th.

Marten Transport has increased its dividend by an average of 21.6% per year over the last three years. Marten Transport has a payout ratio of 30.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Marten Transport to earn $0.84 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 28.6%.

Marten Transport Price Performance

NASDAQ:MRTN opened at $17.23 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $17.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.71. Marten Transport has a fifty-two week low of $15.33 and a fifty-two week high of $21.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.40 billion, a PE ratio of 24.27 and a beta of 0.77.

Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) last released 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 net margin of 4.17% and a return on equity of 5.74%. The company had revenue of $246.24 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $249.11 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.27 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Marten Transport will post 0.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. StockNews.com raised Marten Transport from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Vertical Research downgraded Marten Transport from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the stock 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $20.00.

Insider Activity at Marten Transport

In other news, COO Adam Daniel Phillips sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.34, for a total transaction of $82,530.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 7,448 shares in the company, valued at approximately $136,596.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 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.