Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) Sees Large Volume Increase – Still a Buy?

Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN) saw unusually-high trading volume on Monday . Approximately 226,879 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 46% from the previous session’s volume of 421,303 shares.The stock last traded at $15.34 and had previously closed at $15.26.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Marten Transport Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $1.27 billion, a PE ratio of 37.21 and a beta of 0.83. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $16.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $17.01.

Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The transportation company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $237.37 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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, Ltd. will post 0.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marten Transport Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a dividend of $0.06 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.54%. Marten Transport’s payout ratio is 57.14%.

Insider Activity at Marten Transport

In other news, Director Jerry M. Bauer bought 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $15.81 per share, for a total transaction of $158,100.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 156,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,473,379.64. This trade represents a 6.83 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 22.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Marten Transport

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MRTN. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Marten Transport by 0.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,831,191 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $107,585,000 after acquiring an additional 14,660 shares during the period. Geneva Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Marten Transport by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 3,231,604 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $57,199,000 after purchasing an additional 15,388 shares during the period. Nuance Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Marten Transport by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 2,627,111 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $46,500,000 after purchasing an additional 303,132 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Marten Transport by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,339,644 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $41,412,000 after purchasing an additional 14,088 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Marten Transport by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,410,882 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $24,977,000 after buying an additional 14,951 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.12% of the company’s stock.

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.