J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) Announces Stock Buyback Program

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, October 22nd, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $0.00 in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the transportation company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ JBHT opened at $165.11 on Friday. J.B. Hunt Transport Services has a 1 year low of $122.79 and a 1 year high of $200.40. The firm has a market cap of $15.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.62, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $143.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $142.17.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) last announced its 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 return on equity of 15.16% and a net margin of 4.75%.The business had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.49 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that J.B. Hunt Transport Services will post 6.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 7th. J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s payout ratio is presently 30.50%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on JBHT. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $140.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $164.00 to $173.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Bank of America raised their price objective on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $153.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $164.00 price objective on J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $166.30.

Insider Activity

In other J.B. Hunt Transport Services news, EVP Eric Mcgee bought 1,148 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $140.76 per share, with a total value of $161,592.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 7,397 shares in the company, valued at $1,041,201.72. The trade was a 18.37% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.30% of the company’s stock.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Company 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.