J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.02 EPS

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT - Get Free Report) issued its earnings results on Tuesday. The transportation company reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.02, Zacks reports. J.B. Hunt Transport Services had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 4.72%. The business had revenue of $2.92 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Trading Up 3.6 %

JBHT stock traded up $4.50 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $129.23. The company had a trading volume of 1,950,062 shares, compared to its average volume of 936,992. The stock has a market cap of $12.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.24, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.27. J.B. Hunt Transport Services has a 52 week low of $122.79 and a 52 week high of $200.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $150.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $168.07.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This is a positive change from J.B. Hunt Transport Services's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. J.B. Hunt Transport Services's payout ratio is 31.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at J.B. Hunt Transport Services

In other J.B. Hunt Transport Services news, Director James K. Thompson sold 4,400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.37, for a total transaction of $771,628.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 23,559 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,131,541.83. This represents a 15.74 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Darren P. Field sold 1,200 shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.67, for a total value of $194,004.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 17,822 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,881,282.74. This represents a 6.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on JBHT. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $189.00 to $170.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $207.00 to $202.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $150.00 target price on J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $167.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $162.20.

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.