Short Interest in Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN) Grows By 26.5%

Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN) saw a large increase in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 784,300 shares, an increase of 26.5% from the October 15th total of 620,200 shares. Currently, 1.4% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 295,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.7 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on MRTN shares. Raymond James downgraded shares of Marten Transport from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Marten Transport from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Jerry M. Bauer bought 10,000 shares of Marten Transport stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were bought at an average price of $15.81 per share, with a total value of $158,100.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 156,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,473,379.64. This represents a 6.83 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 22.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Marten Transport

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. SG Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Marten Transport in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $2,058,000. Nuance Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Marten Transport by 78.0% during the second quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 2,323,979 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $42,877,000 after purchasing an additional 1,018,673 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Marten Transport by 13.1% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,402,776 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $25,881,000 after purchasing an additional 162,924 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Marten Transport by 6.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 692,385 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $12,775,000 after buying an additional 41,505 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Marten Transport during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,172,000. 69.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Marten Transport Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MRTN opened at $16.88 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.37 billion, a PE ratio of 40.19 and a beta of 0.79. Marten Transport has a 1-year low of $15.33 and a 1-year high of $21.38. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $16.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.40.

Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The transportation company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $237.37 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $244.00 million. Marten Transport had a return on equity of 4.41% and a net margin of 3.36%. Equities research analysts expect that Marten Transport will post 0.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.