Principal Securities Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT)

Principal Securities Inc. decreased its position in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT - Free Report) by 38.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,786 shares of the transportation company's stock after selling 2,387 shares during the quarter. Principal Securities Inc.'s holdings in J.B. Hunt Transport Services were worth $646,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 32,899 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $5,659,000 after acquiring an additional 391 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR raised its stake in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 119.0% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 112,116 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $19,134,000 after purchasing an additional 60,926 shares during the period. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 216,829 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $37,004,000 after purchasing an additional 25,492 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 8,115 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $1,385,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 192,712 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $32,888,000 after buying an additional 2,023 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.95% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at J.B. Hunt Transport Services

In other J.B. Hunt Transport Services news, CEO Shelley Simpson sold 6,000 shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total transaction of $1,100,820.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 82,264 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,092,976.08. The trade was a 6.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director James K. Thompson sold 4,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.37, for a total value of $771,628.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 10,545 shares of company stock valued at $1,898,942 in the last three months. 2.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Susquehanna raised shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from a "neutral" rating to a "positive" rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $204.00 to $193.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $200.00 to $190.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $167.00 to $161.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Raymond James lowered their price target on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $200.00 to $190.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $191.11.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Trading Down 0.5 %

JBHT stock traded down $0.83 during trading on Friday, reaching $167.71. The company had a trading volume of 1,116,008 shares, compared to its average volume of 951,636. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.94. J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. has a 52 week low of $153.12 and a 52 week high of $214.39. The business has a 50 day moving average of $172.66 and a 200 day moving average of $174.74. The company has a market cap of $16.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.16, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.15.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The transportation company reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $3.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.47 EPS. The firm's revenue was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. will post 6.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This is a boost from J.B. Hunt Transport Services's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. J.B. Hunt Transport Services's payout ratio is 31.65%.

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.