Truist Financial Corp Increases Stock Holdings in Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN)

Truist Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN) by 10.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,189 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,522 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in Marten Transport were worth $299,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Marten Transport by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,338,538 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $91,023,000 after buying an additional 132,407 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Marten Transport by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 387,770 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $7,166,000 after acquiring an additional 6,429 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in shares of Marten Transport by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 92,704 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,713,000 after purchasing an additional 4,658 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp boosted its position in shares of Marten Transport by 1.3% during the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 50,526 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $934,000 after purchasing an additional 657 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP grew its stake in Marten Transport by 1,966.7% in the first quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 24,015 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $444,000 after purchasing an additional 22,853 shares during the period. 69.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRTN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Vertical Research downgraded shares of Marten Transport from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $22.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Raymond James downgraded shares of Marten Transport from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Marten Transport from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd.

Marten Transport Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MRTN opened at $16.23 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $17.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.46. The firm has a market cap of $1.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.86 and a beta of 0.77. Marten Transport, Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $15.33 and a fifty-two week high of $21.38.

Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The transportation company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by ($0.01). Marten Transport had a return on equity of 5.74% and a net margin of 4.17%. The firm had revenue of $246.24 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $249.11 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.27 earnings per share. Marten Transport’s revenue was down 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Marten Transport, Ltd. will post 0.46 EPS for the current year.

Marten Transport Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.06 dividend. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Marten Transport’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.80%.

Insider Activity at Marten Transport

In other Marten Transport news, COO Adam Daniel Phillips sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.34, for a total value of $82,530.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 7,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $136,596.32. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 22.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.