J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,590,000 shares, a decrease of 7.2% from the December 15th total of 2,790,000 shares. Approximately 3.2% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 848,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.1 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on JBHT. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $180.00 to $171.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Barclays lifted their target price on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. 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 report on Friday. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a report on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $195.00 target price on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, J.B. Hunt Transport Services currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $191.67.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Stock Down 7.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:JBHT opened at $172.45 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm has a market cap of $17.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.16. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $180.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $174.06. 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 earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The transportation company reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.62 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $3.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. J.B. Hunt Transport Services had a net margin of 4.65% and a return on equity of 13.92%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.47 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that J.B. Hunt Transport Services will post 5.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Shelley Simpson sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total transaction of $1,100,820.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 82,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,092,976.08. This represents a 6.80 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Eric Mcgee sold 145 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.72, for a total value of $26,494.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 700 shares in the company, valued at approximately $127,904. This represents a 17.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 11,459 shares of company stock worth $2,136,277. Corporate insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services during the second quarter worth $248,000. Choreo LLC acquired a new position in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services during the 2nd quarter worth about $218,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 25.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 953,749 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $152,589,000 after purchasing an additional 193,684 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in the second quarter valued at $16,887,000. Finally, Amalgamated Bank lifted its stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 31.9% in the second quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 22,509 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $3,601,000 after acquiring an additional 5,442 shares during the last quarter. 74.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.