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

J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and ten have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $194.24.

JBHT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Raymond James boosted 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 note on Tuesday, January 16th. Stephens lowered their target price on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $210.00 to $192.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $234.00 to $211.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Susquehanna reduced their price target on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $195.00 to $185.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, March 8th.

Insider Activity at J.B. Hunt Transport Services

In other J.B. Hunt Transport Services news, EVP David Keefauver sold 978 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.06, for a total transaction of $200,548.68. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 1,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $229,462.14. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other J.B. Hunt Transport Services news, EVP David Keefauver sold 978 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.06, for a total value of $200,548.68. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 1,119 shares in the company, valued at $229,462.14. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Patrick J. Ottensmeyer acquired 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $202.99 per share, for a total transaction of $1,014,950.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 5,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,014,950. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 20,432 shares of company stock valued at $4,309,687. Insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of J.B. Hunt Transport Services

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in JBHT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,744,668 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,946,400,000 after acquiring an additional 80,123 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 6.8% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,714,693 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,178,160,000 after purchasing an additional 429,256 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 269.1% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,371,613 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $413,514,000 after purchasing an additional 1,728,989 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,168,748 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $433,186,000 after buying an additional 62,313 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 184.6% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,154,757 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $406,215,000 after buying an additional 1,397,651 shares during the period. 74.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:JBHT opened at $167.30 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $197.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $192.83. The company has a market capitalization of $17.28 billion, a PE ratio of 26.56, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.11. J.B. Hunt Transport Services has a 52 week low of $160.07 and a 52 week high of $219.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.26.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 18th. The transportation company reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by ($0.27). The firm had revenue of $3.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.29 billion. J.B. Hunt Transport Services had a net margin of 5.25% and a return on equity of 16.25%. J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s quarterly revenue was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.92 EPS. Analysts forecast that J.B. Hunt Transport Services will post 7.57 earnings per share for the current year.

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.