J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Sunday,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on JBHT. Citigroup reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Stephens lifted their target price on shares of 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. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $280.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Weiss Ratings lowered J.B. Hunt Transport Services from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. Finally, Citizens Jmp assumed coverage on J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Two equities 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 assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $286.30.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:JBHT opened at $273.05 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $274.65 and a 200 day moving average of $256.46. The company has a market cap of $25.64 billion, a PE ratio of 38.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. J.B. Hunt Transport Services has a 12-month low of $130.12 and a 12-month high of $299.76.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The transportation company reported $1.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.20. J.B. Hunt Transport Services had a net margin of 5.31% and a return on equity of 18.75%. The company had revenue of $3.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.31 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 19.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that J.B. Hunt Transport Services will post 7.75 EPS for the current year.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 7th were issued a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 7th. J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s payout ratio is 25.50%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On J.B. Hunt Transport Services

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,833,602,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 1.1% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,982,720 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $843,937,000 after purchasing an additional 41,887 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new stake in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in the second quarter worth about $891,349,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 64.7% in the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,056,398 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $305,753,000 after buying an additional 414,837 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in the fourth quarter worth about $200,587,000. 74.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About J.B. Hunt Transport Services

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.