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

J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-three analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and twelve have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $200.0455.

Several brokerages have recently commented on JBHT. Stifel Nicolaus set a $201.00 target price on J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $227.00 price target on J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a report on Thursday, December 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $176.00 to $211.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Citigroup cut shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $175.00 to $221.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other J.B. Hunt Transport Services news, EVP David Keefauver sold 1,588 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.29, for a total transaction of $300,592.52. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 550 shares in the company, valued at $104,109.50. This trade represents a 74.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Nicholas Hobbs sold 3,038 shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.97, for a total value of $613,584.86. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 90,318 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,241,526.46. This represents a 3.25% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 18,147 shares of company stock worth $3,302,555 over the last three months. 2.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 74.3% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 15,643 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,314,000 after buying an additional 6,668 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 433,661 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $64,160,000 after purchasing an additional 13,729 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 27.8% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 1,770 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $262,000 after purchasing an additional 385 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services in the second quarter valued at about $539,000. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 281.2% during the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 25,147 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $3,844,000 after purchasing an additional 18,551 shares during the period. 74.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of JBHT stock opened at $210.73 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.83. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $191.37 and its 200-day moving average is $163.34. The stock has a market cap of $20.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.32, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.27. J.B. Hunt Transport Services has a 52-week low of $122.79 and a 52-week high of $212.00.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 15th. The transportation company reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.10 billion. J.B. Hunt Transport Services had a return on equity of 16.33% and a net margin of 4.99%.J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.53 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that J.B. Hunt Transport Services will post 6.37 EPS for the current year.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 6th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. This is a boost from J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 6th. J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.66%.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, October 22nd that permits the company to buyback $0.00 in shares. This buyback authorization permits the transportation company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.