J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.44 Per Share

J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 23rd,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a dividend of 0.44 per share by the transportation company on Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This is an increase from J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services has raised its dividend by an average of 13.4% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 12 consecutive years. J.B. Hunt Transport Services has a payout ratio of 21.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect J.B. Hunt Transport Services to earn $8.16 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.76 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 21.6%.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Price Performance

JBHT stock opened at $169.70 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The company has a market capitalization of $17.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.52, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.15. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $176.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $174.82. J.B. Hunt Transport Services has a twelve month low of $153.12 and a twelve month high of $219.51.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The transportation company reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by ($0.09). The business 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.47 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that J.B. Hunt Transport Services will post 6.62 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Shelley Simpson sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total transaction of $1,100,820.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 82,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,092,976.08. This trade represents a 6.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Kevin Bracy sold 1,614 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.87, for a total transaction of $306,450.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,235 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,563,579.45. The trade was a 16.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,159 shares of company stock worth $2,205,393 over the last 90 days. 2.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James dropped their price target on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $200.00 to $190.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Evercore ISI cut their price target on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $207.00 to $202.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $195.00 price objective on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $205.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, J.B. Hunt Transport Services presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $191.11.

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.