J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.43 (NASDAQ:JBHT)

J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 17th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th will be paid a dividend of 0.43 per share by the transportation company on Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services has raised its dividend by an average of 15.9% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 21 years. J.B. Hunt Transport Services has a payout ratio of 23.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect J.B. Hunt Transport Services to earn $7.53 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.72 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 22.8%.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Price Performance

Shares of JBHT opened at $176.87 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $18.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.07, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.15. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $170.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $167.69. 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 has a 12 month low of $153.12 and a 12 month high of $219.51.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The transportation company reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $0.07. J.B. Hunt Transport Services had a return on equity of 14.77% and a net margin of 4.90%. The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.80 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that J.B. Hunt Transport Services will post 5.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at J.B. Hunt Transport Services

In related news, EVP Darren P. Field sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.03, for a total transaction of $525,090.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,476,674.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on JBHT shares. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $151.00 to $167.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $195.00 price objective on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $183.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. TD Cowen upped their price objective on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $160.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $193.00 to $189.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $187.56.

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.