Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) Shares Gap Down – What’s Next?

Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $16.94, but opened at $16.48. Marten Transport shares last traded at $16.52, with a volume of 48,325 shares.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MRTN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James downgraded Marten Transport from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Marten Transport from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.00.

Marten Transport Stock Performance

The stock has a 50-day moving average of $17.22 and a 200-day moving average of $17.51. The firm has a market cap of $1.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.86 and a beta of 0.77.

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

Marten Transport Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.06 dividend. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.44%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Marten Transport’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Marten Transport news, COO Adam Daniel Phillips sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 7,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $136,596.32. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 22.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Marten Transport

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Marten Transport by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,831,191 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $107,585,000 after purchasing an additional 14,660 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Marten Transport by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,338,538 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $91,023,000 after buying an additional 132,407 shares during the last quarter. Nuance Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Marten Transport by 78.0% during the 2nd 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 during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Marten Transport by 13.1% during the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 41,505 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.12% of the company’s stock.

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.