J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) Receives $203.00 Average PT from Brokerages

J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-four brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twelve have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $203.00.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $176.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $170.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Argus upgraded shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $173.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $227.00 price objective on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a research report on Thursday, December 11th.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Stock Performance

Shares of JBHT opened at $202.73 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The company has a market capitalization of $19.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.02, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $215.63 and a 200 day moving average of $182.46. J.B. Hunt Transport Services has a 12 month low of $122.79 and a 12 month high of $236.00.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 15th. The transportation company reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. J.B. Hunt Transport Services had a return on equity of 16.33% and a net margin of 4.99%.J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.53 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that J.B. Hunt Transport Services will post 6.37 earnings per share for the current year.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 20th. Investors of record on Friday, February 6th were issued a $0.45 dividend. This is a boost from J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 6th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s payout ratio is presently 29.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other J.B. Hunt Transport Services news, CFO Albert Brad Delco sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.25, for a total transaction of $227,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,586,886.75. This represents a 12.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Bradley W. Hicks sold 4,028 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.13, for a total value of $906,823.64. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 30,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,842,826.35. This represents a 11.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 25,945 shares of company stock worth $5,656,495 in the last three months. Insiders own 2.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Whittier Trust Co. boosted its position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 39.1% during the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 178 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in the third quarter worth about $25,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 34.3% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 188 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Activest Wealth Management raised its position in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 19,800.0% in the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 199 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.95% of the company’s stock.

About J.B. Hunt Transport Services

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.