Russell Investments Group Ltd. Sells 174,947 Shares of Marten Transport, Ltd. $MRTN

Russell Investments Group Ltd. cut its stake in shares of Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN) by 15.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 922,443 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 174,947 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Marten Transport were worth $16,004,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of MRTN. Nuance Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Marten Transport by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 6,267,340 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $71,322,000 after purchasing an additional 144,925 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Marten Transport by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,893,498 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $64,250,000 after buying an additional 37,761 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Marten Transport by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,241,782 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $45,217,000 after buying an additional 32,843 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Marten Transport by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,442,309 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $27,793,000 after buying an additional 16,547 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Marten Transport by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,232,442 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $14,025,000 after buying an additional 119,001 shares in the last quarter. 69.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MRTN. Stephens dropped their price target on Marten Transport from $18.00 to $16.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Marten Transport in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Marten Transport presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $16.00.

Marten Transport Trading Down 0.1%

MRTN opened at $15.21 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $16.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $15.02. Marten Transport, Ltd. has a 1-year low of $9.35 and a 1-year high of $18.48. The company has a market cap of $1.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 89.47 and a beta of 0.95.

Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The transportation company reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $223.54 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $227.10 million. Marten Transport had a net margin of 1.47% and a return on equity of 1.65%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.09 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Marten Transport, Ltd. will post 0.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marten Transport Profile

Marten Transport, Inc is a North American transportation services provider offering temperature-controlled and dry van truckload services. Founded in 1946 and headquartered in Mondovi, Wisconsin, the company specializes in full truckload, dedicated contract carriage, intermodal and port drayage solutions. Its core focus on refrigerated and produce freight has made it a key partner for food manufacturers, retailers and other shippers requiring strict temperature management.

The company maintains a modern fleet of tractors and trailers equipped with advanced telematics, electronic logging devices and continuous temperature monitoring.