J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (JBHT) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.45 on February 20th

J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, February 6th will be paid a dividend of 0.45 per share by the transportation company on Friday, February 20th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 6th. This is a 2.3% increase from J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services has raised its dividend by an average of 0.1%annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 22 consecutive years. J.B. Hunt Transport Services has a dividend payout ratio of 25.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect J.B. Hunt Transport Services to earn $7.99 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 22.5%.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Stock Performance

NASDAQ JBHT opened at $220.61 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The business’s 50 day moving average is $198.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $166.64. J.B. Hunt Transport Services has a 12-month low of $122.79 and a 12-month high of $220.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.93, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.27.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 15th. The transportation company reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.81 by $0.09. J.B. Hunt Transport Services had a return on equity of 16.33% and a net margin of 4.99%.The business had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.10 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.53 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that J.B. Hunt Transport Services will post 6.37 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

JBHT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus set a $201.00 price target on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a research note on Friday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $169.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a report on Monday, January 12th. Citigroup downgraded shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $175.00 to $221.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Argus raised J.B. Hunt Transport Services to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.05.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Company Profile

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.