National Pension Service Grows Holdings in J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. $JBHT

National Pension Service grew its stake in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) by 340.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,348 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 1,042 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in J.B. Hunt Transport Services were worth $194,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 14.6% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,853,092 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $718,015,000 after acquiring an additional 616,986 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in the 1st quarter worth about $29,497,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,048,462 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,486,670,000 after purchasing an additional 195,873 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 11.5% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,408,057 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $208,322,000 after purchasing an additional 144,666 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its holdings in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 118.4% during the 1st quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 162,500 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $24,042,000 after buying an additional 88,100 shares in the last quarter. 74.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at J.B. Hunt Transport Services

In related news, EVP Darren P. Field sold 6,500 shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.00, for a total transaction of $1,098,500.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 12,976 shares in the company, valued at $2,192,944. The trade was a 33.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on JBHT. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $140.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $157.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $170.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised their price objective on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $166.30.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Trading Down 2.1%

NASDAQ:JBHT opened at $162.81 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $150.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $146.12. The stock has a market cap of $15.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. has a 12 month low of $122.79 and a 12 month high of $192.46.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The transportation company reported $1.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.30. J.B. Hunt Transport Services had a net margin of 4.75% and a return on equity of 15.16%. The company had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.02 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.49 earnings per share. J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. will post 6.37 EPS for the current year.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, October 22nd that permits the company to buyback $0.00 in shares. This buyback authorization permits the transportation company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 7th will be given a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 7th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.50%.

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.