Waddell & Associates LLC Acquires New Stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. $JBHT

Waddell & Associates LLC purchased a new position in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 3,290 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $441,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 74.3% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 15,643 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,314,000 after purchasing an additional 6,668 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 3.3% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 433,661 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $64,160,000 after purchasing an additional 13,729 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 27.8% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 1,770 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $262,000 after acquiring an additional 385 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services in the 2nd quarter worth about $539,000. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 7.2% in the second quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 205,707 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $29,540,000 after acquiring an additional 13,834 shares during the period. 74.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other J.B. Hunt Transport Services news, COO Nicholas Hobbs sold 3,038 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.97, for a total value of $613,584.86. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 90,318 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,241,526.46. This represents a 3.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Darren P. Field sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $219.76, for a total transaction of $1,977,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 10,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,359,343.36. This trade represents a 45.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 32,316 shares of company stock worth $6,727,749 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 2.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

JBHT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Vertical Research cut J.B. Hunt Transport Services from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $201.00 target price on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Susquehanna raised shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $160.00 to $240.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Argus upgraded J.B. Hunt Transport Services to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Citigroup lowered shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $175.00 to $221.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.00.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of JBHT opened at $219.25 on Thursday. J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.79 and a fifty-two week high of $234.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.88 billion, a PE ratio of 35.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.27. The company’s fifty day moving average is $210.02 and its 200 day moving average is $175.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.83.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 15th. The transportation company reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.81 by $0.09. J.B. Hunt Transport Services had a net margin of 4.99% and a return on equity of 16.33%. The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.53 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect 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 company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 6th were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. This is a positive change from J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 6th. J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.32%.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Company Profile

J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc is a leading provider of transportation and logistics solutions headquartered in Lowell, Arkansas. The company offers a comprehensive suite of services designed to move freight efficiently across North America, including intermodal, dedicated contract services, full truckload, less-than-truckload (LTL), final mile delivery and specialized transport.

In its intermodal segment, J.B. Hunt leverages a network of rail and truck assets to transport containers and trailers on major U.S.