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 given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-four research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twelve have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $236.1739.

Several brokerages have recently commented on JBHT. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $240.00 price target on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Barclays raised their price objective on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $200.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $248.00 price objective on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut J.B. Hunt Transport Services from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Stock Performance

Shares of JBHT stock opened at $271.22 on Monday. 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 has a one year low of $130.12 and a one year high of $293.54. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $258.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $226.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.98, a PEG ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.30.

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 the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.01 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.17 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that J.B. Hunt Transport Services will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, May 8th were paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.86%.

Insider Activity

In other J.B. Hunt Transport Services news, COO Nicholas Hobbs sold 1,272 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.75, for a total value of $318,954.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 91,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,002,802. This trade represents a 1.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Spencer Frazier sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $258.20, for a total transaction of $516,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 4,604 shares in the company, valued at $1,188,752.80. This represents a 30.28% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 18,119 shares of company stock valued at $4,736,095 over the last three months. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On J.B. Hunt Transport Services

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of JBHT. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC bought a new position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services in the second quarter worth about $31,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. MUFG Securities EMEA plc bought a new stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services in the second quarter valued at $34,000. Whittier Trust Co. lifted its stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 39.1% in the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 178 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 34.3% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 188 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. 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.