National Pension Service Grows Stock Position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. $JBHT

National Pension Service raised its position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 50,778 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,397 shares during the period. National Pension Service’s holdings in J.B. Hunt Transport Services were worth $14,697,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in JBHT. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,833,602,000. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services during the second quarter worth about $539,000. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 71.7% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 9,684 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,882,000 after acquiring an additional 4,043 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 2.4% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 454,610 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $96,332,000 after acquiring an additional 10,664 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services in the fourth quarter valued at about $200,587,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.95% of the company’s stock.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services stock opened at $270.45 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market cap of $25.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.29. J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $130.12 and a fifty-two week high of $299.76. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $274.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $255.48.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The transportation company reported $1.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.71 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $3.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.26 billion. J.B. Hunt Transport Services had a return on equity of 18.75% and a net margin of 5.31%.J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s quarterly revenue was up 19.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.31 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 21st. Investors of record on Friday, August 7th were paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 7th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.50%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Raymond James Financial raised their price objective on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $299.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $225.00 to $261.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Stephens increased their target price on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $360.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Citizens Jmp started coverage on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $286.30.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Company Profile

J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc is a transportation and logistics company headquartered in Lowell, Arkansas. Through its operating segments, the company provides freight transportation, logistics and supply-chain services to customers across North America.

Its principal businesses include intermodal transportation, which combines rail and trucking; dedicated contract services, which provides customized transportation and fleet-management solutions; and integrated capacity solutions, which matches customer freight with available transportation capacity.