Potential Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN) shareholders may wish to note that the Independent Director, Jerry Bauer, recently bought US$158k worth of stock, paying US$15.81 for each share. While that's a very decent purchase to our minds, it was proportionally a bit modest, boosting their holding by just 6.8%.

See our latest analysis for Marten Transport

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Marten Transport

In fact, the recent purchase by Jerry Bauer was the biggest purchase of Marten Transport shares made by an insider individual in the last twelve months, according to our records. That means that an insider was happy to buy shares at around the current price of US$15.86. Of course they may have changed their mind. But this suggests they are optimistic. While we always like to see insider buying, it's less meaningful if the purchases were made at much lower prices, as the opportunity they saw may have passed. The good news for Marten Transport share holders is that an insider was buying at near the current price. Jerry Bauer was the only individual insider to buy shares in the last twelve months.

The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

There are plenty of other companies that have insiders buying up shares. You probably do not want to miss this free list of undervalued small cap companies that insiders are buying.

Does Marten Transport Boast High Insider Ownership?

For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. Marten Transport insiders own about US$369m worth of shares (which is 29% of the company). Most shareholders would be happy to see this sort of insider ownership, since it suggests that management incentives are well aligned with other shareholders.

So What Do The Marten Transport Insider Transactions Indicate?

It's certainly positive to see the recent insider purchase. We also take confidence from the longer term picture of insider transactions. Along with the high insider ownership, this analysis suggests that insiders are quite bullish about Marten Transport. That's what I like to see! In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Marten Transport. While conducting our analysis, we found that Marten Transport has 2 warning signs and it would be unwise to ignore these.

Of course Marten Transport may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of high quality companies.

For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions of direct interests only, but not derivative transactions or indirect interests.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.