Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Buys 20,959 Shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT)

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) by 26.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 100,951 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 20,959 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned about 0.10% of J.B. Hunt Transport Services worth $17,228,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Allstate Corp bought a new position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services in the fourth quarter worth about $404,000. Heartland Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. now owns 129,531 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $22,106,000 after buying an additional 15,212 shares during the last quarter. DnB Asset Management AS raised its stake in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 16,210 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,766,000 after acquiring an additional 1,244 shares in the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $211,000. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 48,502 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $8,277,000 after acquiring an additional 1,084 shares in the last quarter. 74.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director James K. Thompson sold 4,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.37, for a total value of $771,628.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 23,559 shares in the company, valued at $4,131,541.83. This trade represents a 15.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Darren P. Field sold 1,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.67, for a total value of $194,004.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 17,822 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,881,282.74. The trade was a 6.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Stock Down 1.2 %

JBHT opened at $134.66 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $159.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $171.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.03. J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $127.35 and a fifty-two week high of $200.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.22, a PEG ratio of 1.61 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by ($0.09). J.B. Hunt Transport Services had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 4.72%. The business had revenue of $3.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.47 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. will post 6.37 earnings per share for the current year.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This is a positive change from J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s payout ratio is presently 31.65%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on JBHT. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $207.00 to $202.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. Barclays lowered their price target on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Benchmark cut their price objective on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $195.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Raymond James decreased their price objective on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $200.00 to $190.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $205.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $181.55.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Company Profile

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.