Cetera Investment Advisers Sells 7,912 Shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT)

Cetera Investment Advisers reduced its holdings in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT - Free Report) by 48.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,480 shares of the transportation company's stock after selling 7,912 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers' holdings in J.B. Hunt Transport Services were worth $1,447,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its holdings in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 51.7% during the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 7,672 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $1,309,000 after acquiring an additional 2,615 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 97.6% during the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,672 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $968,000 after purchasing an additional 2,801 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,801 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $649,000 after buying an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 365,364 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $62,353,000 after buying an additional 7,080 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 44.9% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 157,385 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $26,859,000 after buying an additional 48,795 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.95% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America upped their price objective on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $150.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $167.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Susquehanna set a $140.00 price target on J.B. Hunt Transport Services and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $150.00 target price on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Raymond James cut their price objective on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $190.00 to $165.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, J.B. Hunt Transport Services currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $162.00.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ JBHT traded up $2.58 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $140.00. The company had a trading volume of 830,898 shares, compared to its average volume of 987,948. J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. has a 12 month low of $122.79 and a 12 month high of $200.40. The stock has a market cap of $13.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.18, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $138.33 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $160.66.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The transportation company reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. J.B. Hunt Transport Services had a net margin of 4.72% and a return on equity of 14.05%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. will post 6.37 earnings per share for the current year.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, May 9th were given a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 9th. J.B. Hunt Transport Services's payout ratio is 31.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Darren P. Field sold 1,200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.67, for a total value of $194,004.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now 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 through this hyperlink. Also, COO Nicholas Hobbs purchased 1,529 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $130.75 per share, for a total transaction of $199,916.75. Following the purchase, the chief operating officer now owns 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 disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 2.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.