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

J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty-three ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $160.1429.

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $164.00 target price on J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $158.00 target price on J.B. Hunt Transport Services and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Raymond James Financial increased their target price on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $155.00 to $145.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $180.00 to $170.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Eric Mcgee purchased 1,148 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The stock was bought at an average price of $140.76 per share, with a total value of $161,592.48. Following the completion of the purchase, the executive vice president owned 7,397 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,041,201.72. This represents a 18.37% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP David Keefauver sold 989 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.97, for a total value of $150,298.33. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 946 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $143,763.62. The trade was a 51.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.30% of the company's stock.

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

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 2.0% during 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 period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake 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 worth $718,015,000 after purchasing an additional 616,986 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 7.1% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,122,669 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $592,015,000 after purchasing an additional 272,594 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 0.6% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,072,500 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $296,383,000 after purchasing an additional 11,637 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 411.5% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,799,843 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $258,457,000 after purchasing an additional 1,447,993 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.95% of the company's stock.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Price Performance

Shares of JBHT stock opened at $139.37 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. J.B. Hunt Transport Services has a twelve month low of $122.79 and a twelve month high of $200.40. The company has a market cap of $13.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $140.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $140.90.

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

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 8th were paid a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 8th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. J.B. Hunt Transport Services's dividend payout ratio is presently 32.00%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.