Nicholas Investment Partners LP Reduces Stock Holdings in J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT)

Nicholas Investment Partners LP cut its holdings in J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) by 54.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,857 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 3,402 shares during the period. Nicholas Investment Partners LP’s holdings in J.B. Hunt Transport Services were worth $517,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 10.0% in the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 5,673 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,139,000 after purchasing an additional 518 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 15.8% in the 1st quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 1,562 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $313,000 after buying an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 16.2% during the 1st quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,428 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $488,000 after buying an additional 339 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 6.6% during the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 11,241 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,257,000 after buying an additional 696 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 0.5% in the first quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 13,252 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,661,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. 73.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on JBHT shares. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $207.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 18th. Susquehanna decreased their target price on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $190.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 18th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a research note on Wednesday, October 4th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $162.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $197.00.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of JBHT traded down $3.12 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $178.82. 57,623 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 751,891. J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. has a 12-month low of $163.66 and a 12-month high of $209.21. The firm has a market cap of $18.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $182.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $183.46.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 17th. The transportation company reported $1.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $3.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.17 billion. J.B. Hunt Transport Services had a return on equity of 20.17% and a net margin of 5.89%. The firm’s revenue was down 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.57 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. will post 7.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 10th will be given a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 9th. J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s payout ratio is currently 22.64%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other J.B. Hunt Transport Services news, EVP Eric Mcgee sold 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.26, for a total transaction of $76,104.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $95,130. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Company Profile

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.