Aventail Capital Group LP Takes Position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. $JBHT

Aventail Capital Group LP purchased a new stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 36,898 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,171,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 13,131.1% in the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 318,604 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $61,918,000 after acquiring an additional 316,196 shares during the last quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. increased its stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 633.8% in the fourth quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. now owns 16,430 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $3,193,000 after acquiring an additional 14,191 shares during the last quarter. Boothbay Fund Management LLC increased its stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Boothbay Fund Management LLC now owns 9,976 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,939,000 after acquiring an additional 1,169 shares during the last quarter. Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,807,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 17.7% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,755,171 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $729,780,000 after acquiring an additional 565,605 shares during the last quarter. 74.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Benchmark lifted their price objective on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $216.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $250.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $205.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.17.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:JBHT opened at $267.24 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $25.20 billion, a PE ratio of 41.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.30. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $256.66 and its 200-day moving average is $225.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.26. J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. has a 52 week low of $130.12 and a 52 week high of $293.54.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The transportation company reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.45 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. J.B. Hunt Transport Services had a net margin of 5.13% and a return on equity of 17.30%. J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s revenue was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.17 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current year.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Darren P. Field sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $254.49, for a total value of $1,017,960.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 8,696 shares in the company, valued at $2,213,045.04. The trade was a 31.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Nicholas Hobbs sold 1,272 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 owned 91,736 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,002,802. The trade was a 1.37% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 18,119 shares of company stock valued at $4,736,095 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 2.50% 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.