Natixis Advisors LLC Sells 5,450 Shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT)

Natixis Advisors LLC reduced its position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) by 20.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,154 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 5,450 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in J.B. Hunt Transport Services were worth $3,610,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Intact Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $67,000. Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 790,038 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $134,828,000 after buying an additional 37,033 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,701,000. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 4,320 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $737,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 68.7% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 329 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. 74.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on JBHT. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $167.00 to $161.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $180.00 to $171.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Bank of America dropped their price target on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $189.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Raymond James dropped their target price on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $200.00 to $190.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, J.B. Hunt Transport Services has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $186.80.

Insider Activity

In other J.B. Hunt Transport Services news, Director James K. Thompson sold 4,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 23,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,131,541.83. This trade represents a 15.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Darren P. Field sold 1,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.67, for a total value of $194,004.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 17,822 shares in the company, valued at $2,881,282.74. The trade was a 6.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Trading Up 0.7 %

NASDAQ JBHT opened at $148.55 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.16. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $165.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $172.81. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $144.34 and a one year high of $200.40.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) last announced 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 for 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 quarterly revenue was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.47 EPS. Research analysts expect that J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. will post 6.37 earnings per share for the current year.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This is a boost from J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s dividend payout ratio is 31.65%.

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.