J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. $JBHT Shares Bought by Westfield Capital Management Co. LP

Westfield Capital Management Co. LP boosted its holdings in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) by 7.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 318,165 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 21,322 shares during the quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP owned about 0.33% of J.B. Hunt Transport Services worth $61,832,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 411.5% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,799,843 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $258,457,000 after acquiring an additional 1,447,993 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in the 4th quarter worth approximately $200,587,000. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 75,567.4% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,006,377 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $195,580,000 after acquiring an additional 1,005,047 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 338.0% in the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 823,089 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $110,434,000 after acquiring an additional 635,172 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 18.4% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,672,060 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $358,510,000 after acquiring an additional 416,167 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $215.00 to $236.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $250.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $248.00 price objective on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $228.00 to $236.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $233.83.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Trading Up 0.6%

JBHT opened at $284.95 on Friday. J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. has a 12 month low of $130.12 and a 12 month high of $289.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.11, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $245.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $218.05.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The transportation company reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.01 billion. J.B. Hunt Transport Services had a return on equity of 17.30% and a net margin of 5.13%.J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.17 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 8th were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 8th. J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s payout ratio is 27.86%.

Insider Activity at J.B. Hunt Transport Services

In other J.B. Hunt Transport Services news, insider Bradley W. Hicks sold 7,644 shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $261.91, for a total transaction of $2,002,040.04. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 23,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,281,125.62. The trade was a 24.17% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Darren P. Field sold 4,000 shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.49, for a total value of $1,017,960.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 8,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,213,045.04. This trade represents a 31.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 15,916 shares of company stock worth $4,109,634 over the last three months. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

About J.B. Hunt Transport Services

J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc is a leading provider of transportation and logistics solutions headquartered in Lowell, Arkansas. The company offers a comprehensive suite of services designed to move freight efficiently across North America, including intermodal, dedicated contract services, full truckload, less-than-truckload (LTL), final mile delivery and specialized transport.

In its intermodal segment, J.B. Hunt leverages a network of rail and truck assets to transport containers and trailers on major U.S.