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

J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-six ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have assigned a hold recommendation, fifteen have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $282.50.

A number of research firms recently commented on JBHT. Raymond James Financial reduced their price target on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $315.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 17th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a research note on Wednesday, September 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $261.00 price target on J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Benchmark lifted their price objective on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $250.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $265.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Price Performance

NASDAQ:JBHT opened at $234.20 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.00 billion, a PE ratio of 33.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.31. J.B. Hunt Transport Services has a 1-year low of $134.53 and a 1-year high of $299.76. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $260.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $257.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The transportation company reported $1.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $3.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.26 billion. J.B. Hunt Transport Services had a net margin of 5.31% and a return on equity of 18.75%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 19.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.31 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that J.B. Hunt Transport Services will post 7.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 21st. Investors of record on Friday, August 7th were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 7th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s payout ratio is presently 25.50%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. QRG Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services during the second quarter worth approximately $219,000. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. bought a new stake in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services during the second quarter worth approximately $262,000. Andra AP fonden grew its position in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 4.3% in the second quarter. Andra AP fonden now owns 29,221 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $8,457,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares during the last quarter. Junto Capital Management LP grew its position in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 9.3% in the second quarter. Junto Capital Management LP now owns 426,492 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $123,440,000 after purchasing an additional 36,149 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 5.3% during the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,546 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,184,000 after purchasing an additional 381 shares during the period. 74.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About J.B. Hunt Transport Services

J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc is a transportation and logistics company headquartered in Lowell, Arkansas. Founded in 1961 by Johnnie Bryan Hunt and Johnelle Hunt, the company has grown from a small trucking operation into a major provider of freight transportation and supply-chain services across North America.

The company’s primary business activities include intermodal transportation, which combines rail and truck services; dedicated contract services, which provides customized fleet and delivery operations for individual customers; and integrated capacity solutions, including freight brokerage and third-party logistics.