Raymond James Lowers Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) to Market Perform

Raymond James lowered shares of Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a report published on Monday, MarketBeat reports.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on MRTN. StockNews.com cut shares of Marten Transport from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Vertical Research cut shares of Marten Transport from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $22.00 to $19.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.00.

Marten Transport Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MRTN opened at $17.13 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $1.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.13 and a beta of 0.77. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $17.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.48. Marten Transport has a 52-week low of $15.33 and a 52-week high of $21.38.

Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The transportation company reported $0.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $246.24 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $249.11 million. Marten Transport had a net margin of 4.17% and a return on equity of 5.74%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.27 EPS. Analysts predict that Marten Transport will post 0.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marten Transport Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.06 per share. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Marten Transport’s payout ratio is 33.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Adam Daniel Phillips sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.34, for a total transaction of $82,530.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 7,448 shares in the company, valued at approximately $136,596.32. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 22.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Marten Transport

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Confluence Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Marten Transport during the first quarter worth $2,988,000. SG Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Marten Transport during the first quarter worth $2,058,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Marten Transport by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,338,538 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $91,023,000 after acquiring an additional 132,407 shares in the last quarter. Nuance Investments LLC raised its position in Marten Transport by 78.0% during the second quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 2,323,979 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $42,877,000 after acquiring an additional 1,018,673 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Marten Transport by 13.1% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,402,776 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $25,881,000 after acquiring an additional 162,924 shares in the last quarter. 69.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.