Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Increases Stock Position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its holdings in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) by 0.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 73,413 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 645 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P owned about 0.07% of J.B. Hunt Transport Services worth $12,651,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of JBHT. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 5.1% during the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 16,602 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,861,000 after buying an additional 799 shares in the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its position in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 3.7% in the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 473,735 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $81,639,000 after acquiring an additional 16,912 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 123.9% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 14,486 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,496,000 after acquiring an additional 8,017 shares during the last quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC increased its position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC now owns 1,068 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $184,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lathrop Investment Management Corp raised its stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 26.4% in the 3rd quarter. Lathrop Investment Management Corp now owns 2,395 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $413,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. 74.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 price target on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $204.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Susquehanna boosted their price target on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays lifted their price objective on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Loop Capital increased their target price on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $173.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, J.B. Hunt Transport Services has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $190.11.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Stock Performance

Shares of JBHT stock opened at $190.86 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company has a market cap of $19.24 billion, a PE ratio of 34.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.14. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $177.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $168.98. J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. has a 52 week low of $153.12 and a 52 week high of $219.51.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The transportation company reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $0.07. J.B. Hunt Transport Services had a return on equity of 13.92% and a net margin of 4.65%. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.04 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.80 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. will post 5.7 EPS for the current year.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were given a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.27%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Spencer Frazier sold 2,200 shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.21, for a total transaction of $427,262.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,050 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $786,550.50. The trade was a 35.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Kevin Bracy sold 1,614 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.87, for a total value of $306,450.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,235 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,563,579.45. This represents a 16.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,314 shares of company stock worth $1,008,962 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 2.10% 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.