J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) issued its earnings results on Tuesday. The transportation company reported $1.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by ($0.02), Zacks reports. J.B. Hunt Transport Services had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 4.72%.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Trading Down 2.0 %

NASDAQ:JBHT traded down $2.71 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $135.11. 1,406,781 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 943,509. J.B. Hunt Transport Services has a 52-week low of $125.75 and a 52-week high of $200.40. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $153.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $169.19. The firm has a market cap of $13.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.30, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.94.

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 given a dividend of $0.44 per share. This is a positive change from J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.30%. J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s dividend payout ratio is 31.65%.

Insider Transactions at J.B. Hunt Transport Services

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

JBHT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Benchmark reduced their target price on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $195.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $211.00 to $196.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $193.00 to $164.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $188.00 to $166.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $189.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, J.B. Hunt Transport Services has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $177.55.

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.