Sentry Investment Management LLC Buys Shares of 407 J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT)

Sentry Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 407 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services in the fourth quarter worth about $185,299,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 2,722.2% during the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 545,042 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $108,600,000 after acquiring an additional 525,729 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services in the second quarter valued at approximately $19,755,000. FIL Ltd grew its holdings in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 15.7% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 887,836 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $177,336,000 after purchasing an additional 120,202 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,744,668 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,946,400,000 after purchasing an additional 80,123 shares in the last quarter. 74.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $177.00 to $173.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $173.00 to $151.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Benchmark decreased their price objective on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $200.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $204.00 to $184.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $181.88.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Darren P. Field sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.03, for a total transaction of $525,090.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 14,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,476,674.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, Director Persio V. Lisboa purchased 600 shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 19th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $163.47 per share, for a total transaction of $98,082.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,594 shares in the company, valued at $587,511.18. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Darren P. Field sold 3,000 shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.03, for a total value of $525,090.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 14,150 shares in the company, valued at $2,476,674.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ JBHT opened at $168.66 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.77, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.15. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $168.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $172.58. J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. has a 12 month low of $153.12 and a 12 month high of $219.51.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The transportation company reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by ($0.19). J.B. Hunt Transport Services had a net margin of 4.90% and a return on equity of 14.77%. The firm had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.81 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. will post 5.7 EPS for the current year.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 2nd were issued a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 2nd. J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s payout ratio is currently 27.30%.

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.