J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $161.90.

JBHT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $160.00 to $140.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $165.00 to $130.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Raymond James lowered 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. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $148.00 target price on J.B. Hunt Transport Services and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a research report on Friday, March 7th. They set a "hold" rating and a $167.00 target price on the stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Nicholas Hobbs bought 1,529 shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were bought 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 now directly owns 91,847 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,008,995.25. This trade represents a 1.69% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 2.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of J.B. Hunt Transport Services

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in JBHT. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position 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 worth $215,610,000 after acquiring an additional 1,024,295 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services in the 4th quarter valued at about $146,618,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 14.6% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,853,092 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $718,015,000 after buying an additional 616,986 shares during the last quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC lifted its position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 16,964.6% in the fourth quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC now owns 610,059 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $104,113,000 after buying an additional 606,484 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 111.1% during the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 956,504 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $163,237,000 after buying an additional 503,324 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.95% of the company's stock.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Stock Up 0.0%

NASDAQ JBHT traded up $0.02 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $140.92. 601,054 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 992,897. J.B. Hunt Transport Services has a 52 week low of $122.79 and a 52 week high of $200.40. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $136.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $157.39. The company has a market cap of $13.98 billion, a PE ratio of 25.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.30. 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 (NASDAQ:JBHT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 15th. The transportation company reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.92 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion. J.B. Hunt Transport Services had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 4.72%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that J.B. Hunt Transport Services will post 6.37 earnings per share for the current year.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 9th were given a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 9th. J.B. Hunt Transport Services's dividend payout ratio is presently 31.94%.

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.