J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) Earns "Buy" Rating from Citigroup

Citigroup reiterated their buy rating on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT - Free Report) in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. Citigroup currently has a $170.00 price target on the transportation company's stock, down from their prior price target of $175.00.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $159.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Benchmark restated a "buy" rating and set a $175.00 target price on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Baird R W upgraded shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an "overweight" rating and set a $163.00 target price (up previously from $150.00) on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a research report on Wednesday. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, J.B. Hunt Transport Services presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $164.90.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Stock Performance

Shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services stock traded down $3.80 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $148.89. 1,636,621 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 997,412. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.87. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $144.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $151.22. J.B. Hunt Transport Services has a 52-week low of $122.79 and a 52-week high of $200.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.07, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.29.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The transportation company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.34 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.93 billion. J.B. Hunt Transport Services had a return on equity of 14.26% and a net margin of 4.59%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.32 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that J.B. Hunt Transport Services will post 6.37 EPS for the current year.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 9th were issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 9th. J.B. Hunt Transport Services's dividend payout ratio is currently 32.00%.

Insider Activity at J.B. Hunt Transport Services

In other J.B. Hunt Transport Services news, COO Nicholas Hobbs purchased 1,529 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $130.75 per share, with a total value of $199,916.75. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief operating officer owned 91,847 shares in the company, valued at $12,008,995.25. This represents a 1.69% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 2.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of J.B. Hunt Transport Services

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 2.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,048,462 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $1,486,670,000 after purchasing an additional 195,873 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 14.6% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,853,092 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $718,015,000 after purchasing an additional 616,986 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,390,200 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $578,572,000 after purchasing an additional 15,476 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,124,425 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $362,554,000 after acquiring an additional 104,019 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,997,568 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $340,049,000 after acquiring an additional 8,968 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.95% of the company's stock.

About J.B. Hunt Transport Services

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.