J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) Shares Sold by New Century Financial Group LLC

New Century Financial Group LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) by 16.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,448 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 277 shares during the quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC’s holdings in J.B. Hunt Transport Services were worth $255,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in JBHT. Paloma Partners Management Co raised its position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 14,254.9% during the third quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co now owns 185,896 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $32,035,000 after acquiring an additional 184,601 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its position in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 2,384.8% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 156,097 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $25,297,000 after purchasing an additional 149,815 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 155.7% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 220,840 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $37,689,000 after buying an additional 134,476 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 282.8% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 173,637 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $27,740,000 after buying an additional 128,283 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC increased its stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 14.1% during the 3rd quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 753,005 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $129,765,000 after buying an additional 93,213 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.95% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on JBHT. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $193.00 to $189.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $167.00 to $161.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $195.00 target price on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Loop Capital upped their price objective on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $173.00 to $187.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $191.11.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Trading Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ JBHT opened at $169.96 on Friday. J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. has a 12 month low of $153.12 and a 12 month high of $219.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.57, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.16. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $178.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $174.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.94.

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

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This is a boost from J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.04%. J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s payout ratio is presently 30.94%.

Insider Activity at J.B. Hunt Transport Services

In other J.B. Hunt Transport Services news, CEO Shelley Simpson sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 82,264 shares in the company, valued at $15,092,976.08. This represents a 6.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Darren P. Field sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.50, for a total transaction of $275,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,321,275. The trade was a 10.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 15,859 shares of company stock worth $2,907,905. 2.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.