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

Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, August 14th, Zacks reports. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th.

Marten Transport has raised 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. 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 firm’s fifty day moving average price is $17.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.71. The company has a market cap of $1.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.27 and a beta of 0.77. Marten Transport has a one year low of $15.33 and a one year high of $21.38.

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 the consensus estimate of $249.11 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.27 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Marten Transport will post 0.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Adam Daniel Phillips sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.34, for a total value of $82,530.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 7,448 shares in the company, valued at $136,596.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 22.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Marten Transport from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Vertical Research cut shares of Marten Transport from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $22.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.00.

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.