Texas Permanent School Fund Corp Lowers Position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT)

Texas Permanent School Fund Corp decreased its stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) by 20.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,491 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 3,366 shares during the quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp’s holdings in J.B. Hunt Transport Services were worth $2,159,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC raised its stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 24.5% during the 1st quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 29,302 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $5,838,000 after acquiring an additional 5,767 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,769,777 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,946,628,000 after purchasing an additional 25,109 shares during the period. Empirical Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services during the 4th quarter valued at $8,089,000. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 11.2% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 197,809 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $39,413,000 after buying an additional 19,987 shares during the period. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services in the 4th quarter worth $1,795,000. Institutional investors own 74.95% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

JBHT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $177.00 to $173.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $191.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Susquehanna lowered their target price on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $175.00 to $155.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $181.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other J.B. Hunt Transport Services news, Director Persio V. Lisboa purchased 600 shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 19th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $163.47 per share, for a total transaction of $98,082.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 3,594 shares in the company, valued at approximately $587,511.18. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, Director Persio V. Lisboa bought 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 19th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $163.47 per share, for a total transaction of $98,082.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 3,594 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $587,511.18. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Darren P. Field sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,476,674.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ JBHT opened at $167.99 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.67, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.15. J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. has a 1-year low of $153.12 and a 1-year high of $219.51. The business’s 50 day moving average is $168.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $171.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.21.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The transportation company reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by ($0.19). J.B. Hunt Transport Services had a return on equity of 14.77% and a net margin of 4.90%. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.02 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.81 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research 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 company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Investors of record on Friday, August 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 2nd. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.02%. J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s payout ratio is 27.30%.

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.