Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) Lowered to “Sell” at StockNews.com

Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) was downgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report issued on Wednesday.

Separately, Vertical Research downgraded Marten Transport from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $22.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.00.

Marten Transport Stock Down 2.0 %

NASDAQ MRTN traded down $0.35 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $16.91. The stock had a trading volume of 319,463 shares, compared to its average volume of 413,920. Marten Transport has a 52-week low of $15.33 and a 52-week high of $21.38. The company has a market cap of $1.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.82 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $17.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $17.60.

Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The transportation company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.11 by ($0.01). Marten Transport had a net margin of 4.17% and a return on equity of 5.74%. The firm had revenue of $246.24 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $249.11 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.27 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Marten Transport will post 0.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Marten Transport

In other news, COO Adam Daniel Phillips sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.34, for a total transaction of $82,530.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 7,448 shares in the company, valued at $136,596.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 22.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Marten Transport

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MRTN. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp increased its holdings in Marten Transport by 1.3% in the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 50,526 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $934,000 after buying an additional 657 shares during the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its position in shares of Marten Transport by 2.0% during the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 33,282 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $615,000 after buying an additional 665 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in Marten Transport by 7.4% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 11,706 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $216,000 after purchasing an additional 807 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its position in shares of Marten Transport by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 222,269 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $4,101,000 after acquiring an additional 1,162 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new stake in shares of Marten Transport in the second quarter valued at $28,000. 69.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.