Nicholas Investment Partners LP Decreases Stake in Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN)

Nicholas Investment Partners LP reduced its holdings in shares of Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN - Free Report) by 79.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,787 shares of the transportation company's stock after selling 42,339 shares during the period. Nicholas Investment Partners LP's holdings in Marten Transport were worth $226,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MRTN. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Marten Transport by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,839,975 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $122,524,000 after acquiring an additional 27,091 shares in the last quarter. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Marten Transport by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC now owns 39,670 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $832,000 after purchasing an additional 1,950 shares in the last quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Marten Transport by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC now owns 1,135,410 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $23,821,000 after buying an additional 97,260 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Marten Transport by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 780,794 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $16,381,000 after buying an additional 27,507 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in shares of Marten Transport by 11.3% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 33,130 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $695,000 after acquiring an additional 3,365 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.12% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Stephens lowered their price objective on Marten Transport from $23.00 to $21.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th.

Marten Transport Trading Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ:MRTN traded up $0.01 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $18.04. The company's stock had a trading volume of 347,015 shares, compared to its average volume of 457,188. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $17.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $18.78. The stock has a market cap of $1.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.41 and a beta of 0.79. Marten Transport, Ltd. has a 12-month low of $15.33 and a 12-month high of $23.38.

Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The transportation company reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.12. The firm had revenue of $249.67 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $262.77 million. Marten Transport had a net margin of 5.31% and a return on equity of 7.65%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 16.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.28 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Marten Transport, Ltd. will post 0.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marten Transport Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $0.06 per share. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. Marten Transport's payout ratio is 33.80%.

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.