BMO Capital Markets Issues Positive Forecast for J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) Stock Price

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) had its target price raised by BMO Capital Markets from $250.00 to $320.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the transportation company’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price objective suggests a potential upside of 12.95% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on JBHT. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $215.00 to $236.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $228.00 to $236.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $200.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $205.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $233.83.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Stock Performance

NASDAQ JBHT opened at $283.31 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $243.63 and a 200-day moving average of $217.58. J.B. Hunt Transport Services has a 1-year low of $130.12 and a 1-year high of $284.04. The firm has a market cap of $26.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.86, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.30. 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 quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The transportation company reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.45 by $0.04. J.B. Hunt Transport Services had a return on equity of 17.30% and a net margin of 5.13%.The firm had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.01 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.17 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that J.B. Hunt Transport Services will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at J.B. Hunt Transport Services

In other J.B. Hunt Transport Services news, insider Bradley W. Hicks sold 7,644 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $261.91, for a total value of $2,002,040.04. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 23,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,281,125.62. This trade represents a 24.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Nicholas Hobbs sold 1,272 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.75, for a total transaction of $318,954.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 91,736 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,002,802. The trade was a 1.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 15,916 shares of company stock valued at $4,109,634. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in JBHT. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 411.5% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,799,843 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $258,457,000 after buying an additional 1,447,993 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services during the 4th quarter worth about $200,587,000. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 75,567.4% during the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,006,377 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $195,580,000 after buying an additional 1,005,047 shares during the period. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its position in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 338.0% during the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 823,089 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $110,434,000 after buying an additional 635,172 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 272.8% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 747,377 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $145,245,000 after buying an additional 546,880 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.95% of the company’s stock.

About J.B. Hunt Transport Services

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.