Marten Transport, Ltd (MRTN): Hedge Fund Sentiment Unchanged

After several tireless days we have finished crunching the numbers from the more than 700 13F filings issued by the elite hedge funds and other investment firms that we track at Insider Monkey, which disclosed those firms’ equity portfolios as of September 30. The results of that effort will be put on display in this article, as we share valuable insight into the smart money sentiment towards Marten Transport, Ltd (NASDAQ:MRTN).

Hedge fund interest in Marten Transport, Ltd (NASDAQ:MRTN) shares was flat at the end of last quarter. This is usually a negative indicator. At the end of this article we will also compare MRTN to other stocks, including Del Taco Restaurants Inc (NASDAQ:TACO), Agree Realty Corporation (NYSE:ADC), and LGI Homes Inc (NASDAQ:LGIH) to get a better sense of its popularity.

To most market participants, hedge funds are seen as worthless, old investment vehicles of yesteryear. While there are over 8000 funds with their doors open at present, Our experts choose to focus on the moguls of this club, around 700 funds. Most estimates calculate that this group of people direct most of all hedge funds’ total asset base, and by following their matchless stock picks, Insider Monkey has unearthed a few investment strategies that have historically outstripped the broader indices. Insider Monkey’s small-cap hedge fund strategy beat the S&P 500 index by 12 percentage points annually for a decade in their back tests.

With all of this in mind, we’re going to view the latest action surrounding Marten Transport, Ltd (NASDAQ:MRTN).

Hedge fund activity in Marten Transport, Ltd (NASDAQ:MRTN)

At the Q3’s end, a total of 16 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, unchanged from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings significantly (or already accumulated large positions).

Of the funds tracked by Insider Monkey, 12th Street Asset Management, managed by Michael O’Keefe, holds the largest position in Marten Transport, Ltd (NASDAQ:MRTN). The fund has a $7.6 million position in the stock, comprising 2.8% of its 13F portfolio. On 12th Street Asset Management’s heels is Royce & Associates, led by Chuck Royce, holding a $5.5 million position; less than 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Remaining professional money managers with similar optimism include Marc Lisker, Glenn Fuhrman and John Phelan’s MSDC Management, Alexander Mitchell’s Scopus Asset Management and Paul Hondros’s AlphaOne Capital Partners.

Because Marten Transport, Ltd (NASDAQ:MRTN) has experienced falling interest from the smart money, logic holds that there was a specific group of money managers that slashed their entire stakes heading into Q4. At the top of the heap, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management dumped the largest position of the “upper crust” of funds monitored by Insider Monkey, worth an estimated $8.5 million in stock. Paul Tudor Jones’ fund, Tudor Investment Corp, also sold off its entire holding, about $0.6 million worth of MRTN shares. These transactions are important to note, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Marten Transport, Ltd (NASDAQ:MRTN). These stocks are Del Taco Restaurants Inc (NASDAQ:TACO), Agree Realty Corporation (NYSE:ADC), LGI Homes Inc (NASDAQ:LGIH), and WMIH Corp (NASDAQ:WMIH). This group of stocks’ market valuations resemble MRTN’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 21 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $102 million. That figure was a meager $29 million in MRTN’s case. WMIH Corp (NASDAQ:WMIH) is the most popular stock in this table, whereas Agree Realty Corporation (NYSE:ADC) is the least popular one with only 7 bullish hedge fund positions. Marten Transport, Ltd (NASDAQ:MRTN) is not the least popular stock in this group, but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard WMIH might be a better candidate to consider a long position.