J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) Receives $191.11 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nineteen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and thirteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $189.84.

JBHT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a research note on Friday. They set a “hold” rating and a $167.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $204.00 to $193.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $195.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $207.00 to $202.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other J.B. Hunt Transport Services news, Director James K. Thompson sold 4,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.37, for a total transaction of $771,628.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 23,559 shares in the company, valued at $4,131,541.83. This trade represents a 15.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in JBHT. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 428.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,263,391 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $215,610,000 after purchasing an additional 1,024,295 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services during the fourth quarter worth approximately $146,618,000. Demars Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 16,964.6% during the fourth quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC now owns 610,059 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $104,113,000 after purchasing an additional 606,484 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 503,324 shares during the period. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 2,408.1% during the fourth quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 213,888 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $36,502,000 after purchasing an additional 205,360 shares during the period. 74.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Price Performance

JBHT stock opened at $160.21 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $169.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $174.34. The stock has a market cap of $16.02 billion, a PE ratio of 28.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. J.B. Hunt Transport Services has a 1 year low of $153.12 and a 1 year high of $203.02.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The transportation company reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $3.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. J.B. Hunt Transport Services had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 4.72%. J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.47 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that J.B. Hunt Transport Services will post 6.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This is an increase from J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.10%. J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.65%.

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.