Convergence Investment Partners LLC Invests $957,000 in J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. $JBHT

Convergence Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 4,517 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $957,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in JBHT. State Street Corp grew its stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 7.1% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,122,669 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $592,015,000 after purchasing an additional 272,594 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,940,833 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $765,862,000 after buying an additional 84,149 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 17.7% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,755,171 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $729,780,000 after buying an additional 565,605 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,612,262 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $216,317,000 after buying an additional 82,939 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services during the 4th quarter valued at $200,587,000. 74.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $265.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Benchmark lifted their target price on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $250.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Truist Financial upped their price target on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $280.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $248.00 price objective on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $286.30.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Stock Performance

JBHT stock opened at $293.26 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $276.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $239.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. has a 12-month low of $130.12 and a 12-month high of $299.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.65 billion, a PE ratio of 41.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.29.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The transportation company reported $1.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.20. J.B. Hunt Transport Services had a return on equity of 18.75% and a net margin of 5.31%.The firm had revenue of $3.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.31 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 19.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. will post 7.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 8th were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 8th. J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.50%.

Insider Transactions at J.B. Hunt Transport Services

In other news, EVP Spencer Frazier sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $258.20, for a total transaction of $516,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 4,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,188,752.80. The trade was a 30.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Brian Webb sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.01, for a total transaction of $426,015.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 15,881 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,510,362.81. This trade represents a 8.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 15,847 shares of company stock valued at $4,162,861. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

About J.B. Hunt Transport Services

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.