Brokerages Set J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) Target Price at $205.56

J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the sixteen ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $205.56.

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on JBHT shares. Raymond James upped their target price on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $200.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. StockNews.com downgraded J.B. Hunt Transport Services from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, March 8th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $215.00 price target on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $178.00 to $199.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. Finally, Stephens lowered their price target on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $212.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 4th.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Stock Performance

Shares of JBHT stock opened at $185.10 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $201.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $193.38. J.B. Hunt Transport Services has a 12-month low of $164.39 and a 12-month high of $219.51. The company has a market cap of $19.12 billion, a PE ratio of 26.56, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.11.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 18th. The transportation company reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.74 by ($0.27). J.B. Hunt Transport Services had a net margin of 5.68% and a return on equity of 18.40%. The firm had revenue of $3.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.92 earnings per share. J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s revenue was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that J.B. Hunt Transport Services will post 7.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 9th were paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. This is a positive change from J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 8th. J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.68%.

Insider Transactions at J.B. Hunt Transport Services

In related news, Director Patrick J. Ottensmeyer purchased 5,000 shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $202.99 per share, for a total transaction of $1,014,950.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,014,950. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, Director Patrick J. Ottensmeyer purchased 5,000 shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $202.99 per share, for a total transaction of $1,014,950.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,014,950. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Alfred C. Harper sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total transaction of $1,382,615.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 42,411 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,021,243.81. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 20,432 shares of company stock valued at $4,309,687 in the last ninety days. 2.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of J.B. Hunt Transport Services

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 825 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $165,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 0.9% in the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 6,297 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,264,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the period. Drive Wealth Management LLC raised its position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,696 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $339,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Garrison Asset Management LLC raised its position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 0.4% in the third quarter. Garrison Asset Management LLC now owns 13,432 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,532,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. Finally, Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its position in 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 valued at $2,661,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.95% of the company’s stock.

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.