J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) Position Reduced by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System decreased its position in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) by 4.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,300 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 200 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in J.B. Hunt Transport Services were worth $734,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 0.7% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,374,724 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $581,567,000 after purchasing an additional 22,563 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 0.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,289,874 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $566,944,000 after purchasing an additional 19,826 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC raised its holdings in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 14.1% during the third quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 753,005 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $129,765,000 after purchasing an additional 93,213 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp raised its holdings in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 1.4% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 641,344 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $110,524,000 after purchasing an additional 8,997 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 2.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 553,698 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $95,419,000 after purchasing an additional 12,040 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $205.00 price target on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a report on Friday, January 17th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $167.00 to $161.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $195.00 price target on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a report on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $200.00 to $190.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price target on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $207.00 to $202.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $191.11.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other J.B. Hunt Transport Services news, CEO Shelley Simpson sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total transaction of $1,100,820.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 82,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,092,976.08. This represents a 6.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director James K. Thompson sold 4,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.37, for a total transaction of $771,628.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,559 shares in the company, valued at $4,131,541.83. The trade was a 15.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 10,545 shares of company stock valued at $1,898,942 over the last three months. 2.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Trading Up 2.5 %

NASDAQ JBHT opened at $174.26 on Wednesday. J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. has a 1-year low of $153.12 and a 1-year high of $214.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The company has a market capitalization of $17.57 billion, a PE ratio of 31.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.15. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $173.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $174.82.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The transportation company reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by ($0.09). J.B. Hunt Transport Services had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 4.72%. The company had revenue of $3.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.47 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. will post 6.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.01%. This is an increase from J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.65%.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Profile

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.