Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Purchases 2,722 Shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) by 3.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 76,135 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,722 shares during the quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P owned about 0.08% of J.B. Hunt Transport Services worth $12,993,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in JBHT. iA Global Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 2.6% during the third quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,133 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $368,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,097 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $878,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 820 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $140,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 18.6% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 535 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $92,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 33.9% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 340 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on JBHT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on 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. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $189.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. Raymond James lowered their price target on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $200.00 to $190.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Susquehanna cut J.B. Hunt Transport Services from a “positive” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $200.00 to $165.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their target price on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $207.00 to $202.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, J.B. Hunt Transport Services currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $184.05.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other J.B. Hunt Transport Services news, EVP Darren P. Field sold 1,200 shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.67, for a total transaction of $194,004.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 17,822 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,881,282.74. The trade was a 6.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director James K. Thompson sold 4,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.37, for a total value of $771,628.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 23,559 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,131,541.83. This represents a 15.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Stock Down 3.1 %

JBHT stock opened at $146.12 on Friday. J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.34 and a fifty-two week high of $200.40. The company has a market capitalization of $14.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.16. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $162.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $172.08. 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 results on Thursday, January 16th. The transportation company reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.62 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $3.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.13 billion. J.B. Hunt Transport Services had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 4.72%. J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.47 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast 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 firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were given a dividend of $0.44 per share. 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 yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.65%.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services 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.