J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.44

J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, January 24th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a dividend of 0.44 per share by the transportation company on Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This is an increase from J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services has raised its dividend payment by an average of 13.4% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 11 consecutive years. J.B. Hunt Transport Services has a payout ratio of 21.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect J.B. Hunt Transport Services to earn $8.16 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.72 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 21.1%.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Trading Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ JBHT opened at $169.96 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $17.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.16. J.B. Hunt Transport Services has a fifty-two week low of $153.12 and a fifty-two week high of $219.51. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $178.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $174.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.03.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The transportation company reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by ($0.09). J.B. Hunt Transport Services had a net margin of 4.72% and a return on equity of 14.05%. The company had revenue of $3.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.13 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.47 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that J.B. Hunt Transport Services will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at J.B. Hunt Transport Services

In other news, EVP Spencer Frazier sold 2,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.21, for a total transaction of $427,262.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 4,050 shares in the company, valued at approximately $786,550.50. The trade was a 35.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director James K. Thompson sold 4,400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.37, for a total transaction of $771,628.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,559 shares of the company’s stock, 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 sold 15,859 shares of company stock valued at $2,907,905 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Susquehanna upgraded shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and set a $200.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $211.00 to $196.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $205.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $167.00 to $161.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $195.00 price target on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a report on Friday, January 17th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $191.11.

About J.B. Hunt Transport Services

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.