Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) Reaches New 1-Year Low – Here’s What Happened

Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN)’s stock price reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $9.56 and last traded at $9.6250, with a volume of 69573 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $9.73.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on MRTN. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Marten Transport in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen cut Marten Transport from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Marten Transport has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $19.00.

Marten Transport Stock Performance

The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $10.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $12.07. The company has a market cap of $785.12 million, a P/E ratio of 40.10 and a beta of 0.94.

Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The transportation company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.04 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $194.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $230.38 million. Marten Transport had a return on equity of 2.52% and a net margin of 2.14%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.05 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Marten Transport, Ltd. will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Marten Transport

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Marten Transport by 5.1% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 120,101 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,648,000 after buying an additional 5,874 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its holdings in shares of Marten Transport by 27.3% during the first quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 183,399 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,516,000 after acquiring an additional 39,300 shares during the period. Nuance Investments LLC lifted its position in Marten Transport by 9.7% in the 2nd quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 5,745,928 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $74,640,000 after acquiring an additional 508,486 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH acquired a new position in Marten Transport in the 2nd quarter worth $613,000. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new position in Marten Transport in the 1st quarter worth $3,216,000. 69.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.