William Blair Investment Management LLC Purchases 31,303 Shares of Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN)

William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,492,142 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 31,303 shares during the quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Marten Transport were worth $23,292,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Independence Bank of Kentucky bought a new position in Marten Transport during the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in Marten Transport by 54.6% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,376 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 1,192 shares during the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC bought a new position in Marten Transport during the 4th quarter valued at about $172,000. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Marten Transport during the 3rd quarter valued at about $181,000. Finally, Aigen Investment Management LP bought a new position in Marten Transport during the 4th quarter valued at about $201,000. 69.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Stephens upped their target price 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 Price Performance

Shares of MRTN stock opened at $13.84 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.71 and a beta of 0.84. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $15.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $16.15. Marten Transport, Ltd. has a one year low of $13.52 and a one year high of $19.26.

Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The transportation company reported $0.07 EPS 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%. On average, research analysts expect that Marten Transport, Ltd. will post 0.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marten Transport Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.06 per share. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Marten Transport’s payout ratio is 70.59%.

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.