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

Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, August 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of 0.06 per share by the transportation company on Wednesday, September 30th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 16th.

Marten Transport has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 0.2%annually over the last three years. Marten Transport has a dividend payout ratio of 46.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Marten Transport to earn $0.70 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 34.3%.

Marten Transport Stock Performance

Shares of MRTN stock opened at $14.90 on Wednesday. Marten Transport has a fifty-two week low of $9.35 and a fifty-two week high of $18.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 87.65 and a beta of 0.95. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $16.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $15.08.

Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The transportation company reported $0.07 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.08 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $223.54 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $227.10 million. Marten Transport had a net margin of 1.47% and a return on equity of 1.65%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.09 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Marten Transport will post 0.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Marten Transport in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Stephens lowered their price objective on shares of Marten Transport from $18.00 to $16.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $16.00.

About Marten Transport

Marten Transport, Inc is a North American transportation services provider offering temperature-controlled and dry van truckload services. Founded in 1946 and headquartered in Mondovi, Wisconsin, the company specializes in full truckload, dedicated contract carriage, intermodal and port drayage solutions. Its core focus on refrigerated and produce freight has made it a key partner for food manufacturers, retailers and other shippers requiring strict temperature management.

The company maintains a modern fleet of tractors and trailers equipped with advanced telematics, electronic logging devices and continuous temperature monitoring.