J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) Insider Sells $2,002,040.04 in Stock

J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) insider Bradley Hicks sold 7,644 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the insider owned 23,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,281,125.62. The trade was a 24.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Price Performance

J.B. Hunt Transport Services stock opened at $262.88 on Thursday. J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. has a 12-month low of $130.12 and a 12-month high of $264.98. The stock has a market cap of $24.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.69, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $228.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $209.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

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

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, May 8th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 8th. J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.86%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 7.1% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,122,669 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $592,015,000 after purchasing an additional 272,594 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake 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 valued at $843,937,000 after purchasing an additional 41,887 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 17.7% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,755,171 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $729,780,000 after purchasing an additional 565,605 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 18.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,672,060 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $358,510,000 after purchasing an additional 416,167 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 5.4% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,612,262 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $216,317,000 after purchasing an additional 82,939 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.95% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $215.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $201.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, Benchmark increased their target price on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $228.17.

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.