J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) Research Coverage Started at StockNews.com

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT – Get Rating) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning. The firm issued a hold rating on the transportation company’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on JBHT. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $155.00 to $162.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 19th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 11th. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $195.00 to $203.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, January 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $230.00 to $228.00 in a research note on Monday, November 28th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, January 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $194.82.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Price Performance

J.B. Hunt Transport Services stock traded down $4.19 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $167.50. The company had a trading volume of 1,179,084 shares, compared to its average volume of 684,503. J.B. Hunt Transport Services has a fifty-two week low of $153.92 and a fifty-two week high of $216.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a market cap of $17.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.14. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $185.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $177.18.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 18th. The transportation company reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.45 by ($0.53). The company had revenue of $3.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.79 billion. J.B. Hunt Transport Services had a net margin of 6.54% and a return on equity of 28.20%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.28 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that J.B. Hunt Transport Services will post 9.27 earnings per share for the current year.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. This is a boost from J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.00%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 9th. J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.26%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Alfred C. Harper sold 5,300 shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.33, for a total transaction of $1,008,749.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 32,556 shares in the company, valued at $6,196,383.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 0.9% during the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 6,297 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,264,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its holdings in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 4.1% during the third quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 1,529 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $253,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC boosted its holdings in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 1.1% during the third quarter. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC now owns 5,338 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $835,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its holdings in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 6,533 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,139,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Yousif Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 0.5% during the first quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 13,252 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,661,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. 74.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Company Profile

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J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc engages in the provision of logistics solutions. It operates through the following segments: Intermodal (JBI), Dedicated Contract Services (DCS), Integrated Capacity Solutions (ICS), Final Mile Services (FMS) and Truckload (JBT). The JBI segment offers intermodal freight operations for rail carriers.