Marten Transport, Ltd. (MRTN) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.06 on December 27th

Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, November 29th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of 0.06 per share by the transportation company on Friday, December 27th. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th.

Marten Transport has raised its dividend payment by an average of 21.6% annually over the last three years. Marten Transport has a payout ratio of 47.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MRTN opened at $17.38 on Friday. Marten Transport has a fifty-two week low of $15.33 and a fifty-two week high of $21.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.42 billion, a PE ratio of 41.38 and a beta of 0.79. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $16.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.36.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Marten Transport

In related news, Director Jerry M. Bauer bought 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $15.81 per share, for a total transaction of $158,100.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 156,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,473,379.64. This trade represents a 6.83 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 22.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRTN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered Marten Transport from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Raymond James lowered Marten Transport from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th.

About Marten Transport

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.