Russell Investments Group Ltd. Acquires 36,584 Shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT - Free Report) by 18.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 237,317 shares of the transportation company's stock after buying an additional 36,584 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned approximately 0.24% of J.B. Hunt Transport Services worth $40,498,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,289,874 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $566,944,000 after purchasing an additional 19,826 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,997,568 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $340,049,000 after purchasing an additional 8,968 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 428.4% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,263,391 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $215,610,000 after acquiring an additional 1,024,295 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 111.1% during the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 956,504 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $163,237,000 after acquiring an additional 503,324 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services in the 4th quarter valued at $146,618,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.95% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

JBHT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Raymond James cut their price target on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $190.00 to $165.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $207.00 to $202.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $167.00 to $161.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Barclays reduced their target price on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial initiated coverage on J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a report on Thursday, March 13th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $165.00 price target for the company. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, J.B. Hunt Transport Services currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $177.70.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Price Performance

NASDAQ:JBHT traded down $1.46 on Friday, hitting $132.88. The company had a trading volume of 1,976,773 shares, compared to its average volume of 938,905. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $154.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $169.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.90, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. has a 52 week low of $127.05 and a 52 week high of $200.40.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT - Get Free Report) last posted its 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). The business had revenue of $3.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. J.B. Hunt Transport Services had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 4.72%. The company's revenue was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.47 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. will post 6.37 earnings per share for the current year.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a $0.44 dividend. This is a positive change from J.B. Hunt Transport Services's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. J.B. Hunt Transport Services's dividend payout ratio is currently 31.65%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Darren P. Field sold 1,200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.67, for a total transaction of $194,004.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 17,822 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,881,282.74. The trade was a 6.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director James K. Thompson sold 4,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at $4,131,541.83. The trade was a 15.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.30% 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.