J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) Hits New 12-Month High Following Analyst Upgrade

J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $170.00 to $220.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. J.B. Hunt Transport Services traded as high as $204.63 and last traded at $204.28, with a volume of 106072 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $202.02.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $227.00 target price on J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $155.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $173.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $175.90.

Insider Activity

In other J.B. Hunt Transport Services news, insider Bradley W. Hicks sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.04, for a total value of $380,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 30,499 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,796,029.96. This represents a 6.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Brian Webb sold 796 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.11, for a total value of $150,531.56. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 15,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,968,459.67. This represents a 4.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 15,109 shares of company stock worth $2,688,970. 2.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of J.B. Hunt Transport Services

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp boosted its stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 7.1% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,122,669 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $592,015,000 after purchasing an additional 272,594 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 77.2% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,189,566 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $426,126,000 after acquiring an additional 1,389,723 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 18.4% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,672,060 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $358,510,000 after acquiring an additional 416,167 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 0.6% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,072,500 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $296,383,000 after acquiring an additional 11,637 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,612,262 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $216,317,000 after purchasing an additional 82,939 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.95% of the company’s stock.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Stock Performance

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $182.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $158.57. The firm has a market cap of $19.57 billion, a PE ratio of 35.62, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The transportation company reported $1.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.02 billion. J.B. Hunt Transport Services had a return on equity of 15.16% and a net margin of 4.75%.The business’s revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.49 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. will post 6.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 7th were issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 7th. J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s dividend payout ratio is 30.50%.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, October 22nd that permits the company to buyback $0.00 in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the transportation company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Company Profile

J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc is a leading provider of transportation and logistics solutions headquartered in Lowell, Arkansas. The company offers a comprehensive suite of services designed to move freight efficiently across North America, including intermodal, dedicated contract services, full truckload, less-than-truckload (LTL), final mile delivery and specialized transport.

In its intermodal segment, J.B. Hunt leverages a network of rail and truck assets to transport containers and trailers on major U.S.