Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN) Short Interest Up 20.4% in February

Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN) was the target of a large growth in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 971,500 shares, a growth of 20.4% from the February 13th total of 807,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 416,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.3 days. Approximately 1.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Marten Transport by 22.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 685,308 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $12,130,000 after buying an additional 126,150 shares during the last quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Marten Transport by 158.0% in the 4th quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 303,200 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $4,732,000 after acquiring an additional 185,700 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Marten Transport by 140.3% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 136,498 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,416,000 after acquiring an additional 79,689 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Marten Transport by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 940,431 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $16,646,000 after acquiring an additional 38,990 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in shares of Marten Transport by 120.6% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 138,508 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,452,000 after acquiring an additional 75,721 shares during the period. 69.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Stephens lifted their target price on shares of Marten Transport from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th.

Marten Transport Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MRTN traded down $0.14 on Wednesday, hitting $13.70. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 602,478 shares, compared to its average volume of 375,080. Marten Transport has a 12-month low of $13.52 and a 12-month high of $19.26. The company has a market capitalization of $1.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.29 and a beta of 0.84. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $15.06 and a 200-day moving average of $16.15.

Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The transportation company reported $0.07 earnings per share 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Marten Transport will post 0.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marten Transport Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date 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.