Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Makes New $223,000 Investment in Hub Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:HUBG)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Hub Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:HUBG) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 5,000 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $223,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Barclays PLC lifted its position in Hub Group by 199.6% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 117,774 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $5,354,000 after acquiring an additional 78,467 shares in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Hub Group by 16.8% in the 4th quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,511 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $424,000 after purchasing an additional 1,368 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hub Group by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 31,522 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,405,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hub Group by 170.9% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 6,321 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $282,000 after purchasing an additional 3,988 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Hub Group by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 11,960 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $533,000 after buying an additional 1,375 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 46.77% of the company’s stock.

Hub Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ HUBG opened at $35.96 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.15 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $34.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.70. Hub Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $30.75 and a 1 year high of $53.21.

Hub Group (NASDAQ:HUBG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The transportation company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.02. Hub Group had a net margin of 2.64% and a return on equity of 7.10%. The company had revenue of $915.22 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $973.86 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.44 EPS. Hub Group’s quarterly revenue was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Hub Group, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

Hub Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th were paid a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.39%. Hub Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.41%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HUBG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Hub Group from $46.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Hub Group from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on shares of Hub Group in a research report on Friday, March 7th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $41.00 price objective on the stock. Susquehanna decreased their target price on shares of Hub Group from $55.00 to $48.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Hub Group from $40.00 to $36.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $43.68.

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.