J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) Earns “Buy” Rating from Benchmark

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by investment analysts at Benchmark in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $195.00 target price on the transportation company’s stock. Benchmark’s target price suggests a potential upside of 13.08% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms have also commented on JBHT. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $195.00 price target on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Citigroup boosted their target price on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $204.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Raymond James raised their price target on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $167.00 to $161.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $193.00 to $189.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $191.67.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Stock Down 7.4 %

JBHT opened at $172.45 on Friday. J.B. Hunt Transport Services has a 52 week low of $153.12 and a 52 week high of $219.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $180.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $173.95. The company has a market capitalization of $17.39 billion, a PE ratio of 31.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.16.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The transportation company reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.62 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $3.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.13 billion. J.B. Hunt Transport Services had a net margin of 4.65% and a return on equity of 13.92%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.47 EPS. Analysts forecast that J.B. Hunt Transport Services will post 5.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at J.B. Hunt Transport Services

In other news, EVP Eric Mcgee sold 145 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.72, for a total value of $26,494.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $127,904. This represents a 17.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Spencer Frazier sold 2,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.21, for a total transaction of $427,262.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 4,050 shares in the company, valued at approximately $786,550.50. This represents a 35.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 11,459 shares of company stock valued at $2,136,277. 2.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of J.B. Hunt Transport Services

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of JBHT. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,374,724 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $581,567,000 after purchasing an additional 22,563 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 0.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,289,874 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $566,944,000 after buying an additional 19,826 shares during the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC boosted its holdings in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 6.7% in the second quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 1,685,068 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $269,611,000 after acquiring an additional 105,500 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 25.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 953,749 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $152,589,000 after acquiring an additional 193,684 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 14.1% during the third quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 753,005 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $129,765,000 after acquiring an additional 93,213 shares in the last quarter. 74.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.