Wall Street Zen Downgrades J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) to Hold

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) was downgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

JBHT has been the topic of a number of other reports. Barclays raised their target price on shares of 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. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a report on Monday, July 20th. Zacks Research upgraded J.B. Hunt Transport Services from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $290.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective (up from $190.00) on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $286.30.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ JBHT opened at $273.77 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $276.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $254.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. J.B. Hunt Transport Services has a 52 week low of $130.12 and a 52 week high of $299.76.

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 net margin of 5.31% and a return on equity of 18.75%. The firm had revenue of $3.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.26 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.31 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that J.B. Hunt Transport Services will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On J.B. Hunt Transport Services

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in JBHT. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its position in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 17.9% in the second quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 250 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LP lifted its stake in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 7.9% in the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 453,344 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $131,211,000 after purchasing an additional 33,125 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 37,492.5% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 33,209,198 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $9,611,738,000 after purchasing an additional 33,120,858 shares during the period. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services during the 2nd quarter worth $1,230,000. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital acquired a new stake in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services during the 2nd quarter worth about $224,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.95% 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.