Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Grows Stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. $JBHT

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) by 44.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 484,812 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 149,501 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s holdings in J.B. Hunt Transport Services were worth $94,218,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 411.5% during the second 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 J.B. Hunt Transport Services during the fourth quarter valued at $200,587,000. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 75,567.4% during the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,006,377 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $195,580,000 after purchasing an additional 1,005,047 shares during the period. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 338.0% during the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 823,089 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $110,434,000 after purchasing an additional 635,172 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 18.4% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,672,060 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $358,510,000 after purchasing an additional 416,167 shares during the period. 74.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on JBHT. Argus set a $285.00 target price on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a research report on Monday, April 20th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $250.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $216.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $228.00 to $236.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. One equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $233.83.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Stock Down 2.1%

JBHT opened at $283.16 on Tuesday. J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $130.12 and a fifty-two week high of $293.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.26. The company has a fifty day moving average of $254.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $223.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.83, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.30.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 5.13% and a return on equity of 17.30%. The company had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.01 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.17 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current year.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 8th were issued a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 8th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s payout ratio is presently 27.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other J.B. Hunt Transport Services news, insider Bradley W. Hicks sold 7,644 shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the insider owned 23,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,281,125.62. The trade was a 24.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Darren P. Field sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.49, for a total transaction of $1,017,960.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 8,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,213,045.04. This represents a 31.51% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 18,119 shares of company stock valued at $4,736,095 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services 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.