J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-four ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twelve have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $228.1739.

JBHT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $201.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $250.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $248.00 target price on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a report on Monday, May 11th. Benchmark upped their target price on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $209.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Trading Up 1.2%

JBHT opened at $270.87 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.28. J.B. Hunt Transport Services has a 12 month low of $130.12 and a 12 month high of $273.00. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $234.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $212.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The transportation company reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.01 billion. J.B. Hunt Transport Services had a return on equity of 17.30% and a net margin of 5.13%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.17 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that J.B. Hunt Transport Services will post 7.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 8th were issued a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 8th. J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Bradley W. Hicks sold 7,644 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $261.91, for a total value of $2,002,040.04. Following the sale, the insider owned 23,982 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,281,125.62. This represents a 24.17% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director James K. Thompson sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $254.28, for a total value of $254,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 19,559 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,973,462.52. This trade represents a 4.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 18,154 shares of company stock worth $4,628,850 in the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On J.B. Hunt Transport Services

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 52.8% in the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 220 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the period. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC bought a new position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Sentry Investment Management LLC bought a new position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services in the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Institutional investors own 74.95% of the company’s stock.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Company Profile

J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc is a leading provider of transportation and logistics solutions headquartered in Lowell, Arkansas. The company offers a comprehensive suite of services designed to move freight efficiently across North America, including intermodal, dedicated contract services, full truckload, less-than-truckload (LTL), final mile delivery and specialized transport.

In its intermodal segment, J.B. Hunt leverages a network of rail and truck assets to transport containers and trailers on major U.S.