Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) Downgraded by Raymond James

Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Raymond James from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Briefing.com reports.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. StockNews.com lowered Marten Transport from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Vertical Research lowered shares of Marten Transport from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $22.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Marten Transport has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.00.

Marten Transport Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of MRTN stock opened at $16.94 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $17.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.51. Marten Transport has a 12 month low of $15.33 and a 12 month high of $21.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.38 billion, a PE ratio of 23.86 and a beta of 0.77.

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

Insider Transactions at Marten Transport

In related news, COO Adam Daniel Phillips sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.34, for a total value of $82,530.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,448 shares in the company, valued at approximately $136,596.32. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 22.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Marten Transport

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MRTN. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp boosted its stake 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 worth $934,000 after buying an additional 657 shares in the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its stake in Marten Transport by 2.0% in 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 in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 807 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its stake in Marten Transport by 0.5% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 222,269 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $4,101,000 after buying an additional 1,162 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new stake in Marten Transport in the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. 69.12% of the stock is currently owned by 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.