J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT - Get Free Report) has received an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the eighteen research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and thirteen have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $191.11.

JBHT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $207.00 to $202.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $204.00 to $193.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group decreased their target price on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $211.00 to $196.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $200.00 to $190.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Price Performance

Shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services stock traded up $0.95 during trading on Friday, reaching $167.10. The company's stock had a trading volume of 724,141 shares, compared to its average volume of 986,613. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $174.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $174.87. The company has a market capitalization of $16.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. J.B. Hunt Transport Services has a 12-month low of $153.12 and a 12-month high of $219.51.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The transportation company reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by ($0.09). J.B. Hunt Transport Services had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 4.72%. The company had revenue of $3.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.47 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that J.B. Hunt Transport Services will post 6.37 EPS for the current year.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. This is a boost from J.B. Hunt Transport Services's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.05%. J.B. Hunt Transport Services's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.94%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Eric Mcgee sold 145 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.72, for a total value of $26,494.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 700 shares in the company, valued at approximately $127,904. The trade was a 17.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director James K. Thompson sold 4,400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.37, for a total transaction of $771,628.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,559 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,131,541.83. This represents a 15.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 10,545 shares of company stock valued at $1,898,942 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 2.10% of the company's stock.

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

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 49.1% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 12,520 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $2,003,000 after purchasing an additional 4,122 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services during the second quarter worth approximately $690,000. Czech National Bank increased its position in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 5.6% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 16,412 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $2,828,000 after acquiring an additional 877 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 40.1% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 831 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $143,000 after acquiring an additional 238 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC raised its stake in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 119.5% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 7,858 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $1,354,000 after acquiring an additional 4,278 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.95% of the company's stock.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Company Profile

J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc provides surface transportation, delivery, and logistic services in the United States. It operates through five segments: Intermodal (JBI), Dedicated Contract Services (DCS), Integrated Capacity Solutions (ICS), Final Mile Services (FMS), and Truckload (JBT). The JBI segment offers intermodal freight solutions.