J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) Receives Average Rating of “Buy” from Brokerages

J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT – Get Rating) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the nineteen ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eleven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $212.00.

Several research analysts recently commented on JBHT shares. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $210.00 to $190.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays raised J.B. Hunt Transport Services from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $220.00 to $235.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 26th. Citigroup lifted their price target on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $205.00 to $230.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 12th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $203.00 to $187.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 8th.

NASDAQ JBHT traded up $1.51 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $172.96. 29,675 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 884,284. The company has a market cap of $18.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.04. J.B. Hunt Transport Services has a 12-month low of $155.11 and a 12-month high of $218.18. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $193.98 and a 200 day moving average of $194.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 18th. The transportation company reported $2.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.35. The company had revenue of $3.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.32 billion. J.B. Hunt Transport Services had a return on equity of 26.32% and a net margin of 6.25%. J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s revenue was up 33.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.37 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that J.B. Hunt Transport Services will post 8.7 earnings per share for the current year.

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 4th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.93%. This is an increase from J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.41%.

In other news, EVP Eric Mcgee sold 1,765 shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.34, for a total value of $343,010.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Stuart Lockard Scott sold 5,473 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.00, for a total value of $1,056,289.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 8,038 shares of company stock worth $1,563,251. 3.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Jacobi Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Lee Financial Co bought a new stake in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Cohen & Steers Inc. acquired a new stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Independence Bank of Kentucky bought a new stake in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services during the first quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd bought a new stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.71% of the company’s stock.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Company Profile (Get Rating)

J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc provides surface transportation, delivery, and logistic services in North America. 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.

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