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

Shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT - Get Free Report) have received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty-two analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $163.19.

Several brokerages have issued reports on JBHT. Barclays cut their price objective on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $150.00 price objective on J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Stephens cut their price objective on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $164.00 price objective on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $196.00 to $155.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th.

Insider Activity at J.B. Hunt Transport Services

In other J.B. Hunt Transport Services news, COO Nicholas Hobbs bought 1,529 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was 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 approximately $12,008,995.25. The trade was a 1.69% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 2.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in JBHT. Wellington Management Group LLP grew 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 period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services in the fourth quarter valued at about $146,618,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 616,986 shares during the period. Demars Financial Group LLC grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 606,484 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 111.1% in the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 956,504 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $163,237,000 after acquiring an additional 503,324 shares during the period. 74.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Price Performance

JBHT stock traded down $3.32 during trading on Monday, hitting $149.56. The company had a trading volume of 780,974 shares, compared to its average volume of 998,615. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $141.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $152.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The company has a market cap of $14.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.29. J.B. Hunt Transport Services has a fifty-two week low of $122.79 and a fifty-two week high of $200.40.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The transportation company reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. J.B. Hunt Transport Services had a return on equity of 14.07% and a net margin of 4.65%. Equities research analysts expect that J.B. Hunt Transport Services will post 6.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, May 9th were paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 9th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.18%. J.B. Hunt Transport Services's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.