Hub Group (NASDAQ:HUBG) Receives “Buy” Rating from Benchmark

Benchmark reissued their buy rating on shares of Hub Group (NASDAQ:HUBG) in a research report sent to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. Benchmark currently has a $47.00 price objective on the transportation company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on HUBG. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Hub Group from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Hub Group from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Barclays raised their price objective on Hub Group from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Hub Group from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Hub Group from $43.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.00.

Hub Group Stock Performance

Shares of HUBG traded down $0.14 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $43.25. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 491,369 shares, compared to its average volume of 447,019. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a market cap of $2.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.57 and a beta of 0.88. Hub Group has a 1-year low of $33.38 and a 1-year high of $48.39. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $44.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.44.

Hub Group (NASDAQ:HUBG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The transportation company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $986.89 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.06 billion. Hub Group had a return on equity of 7.43% and a net margin of 2.74%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.49 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Hub Group will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hub Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th were given a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. Hub Group’s payout ratio is 28.41%.

Institutional Trading of Hub Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Hub Group by 13.0% during the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 6,598 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $300,000 after acquiring an additional 761 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Hub Group by 14.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 783,456 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $35,608,000 after buying an additional 97,768 shares during the last quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Hub Group by 2.2% during the third quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 244,460 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $11,111,000 after buying an additional 5,277 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC purchased a new stake in Hub Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $378,000. Finally, Highland Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Hub Group by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 5,086 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $231,000 after acquiring an additional 437 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 46.77% of the company’s stock.

About Hub Group

Hub Group, Inc, a supply chain solutions provider, offers transportation and logistics management services in North America. The company's transportation services include intermodal, truckload, less-than-truckload, flatbed, temperature-controlled, and dedicated and regional trucking, as well as final mile, railcar, small parcel, and international transportation.