J.B. Hunt to pay 26-cent dividend

Lowell-based carrier J.B. Hunt Transport Services announced Wednesday (Jan. 23) that it will pay a 26-cents per share cash dividend on Feb. 22 to shareholders of record as of Feb. 8. The dividend amount rose 8.3%, from the previous dividend of 24-cents per share paid after the third quarter.

The company’s board determined that the earnings and cash flow the company generated warranted a higher dividend as a way to return capital to shareholders. The company paid the 24-cents per share dividend over the past five quarters.

J.B. Hunt on Jan. 17 reported fourth-quarter net income declined 77% to $88.681 million, or 81 cents per share, from $385.308 million, or $3.48 per share. For 2018, earnings declined 28.7% to $489.585 million, or $4.43 per share, from $686.263 million, $6.18 per share. Fourth-quarter revenue rose 16.5% to $2.318 billion, from $1.99 billion. For 2018, revenue rose 19.8% to $8.615 billion, from $7.19 billion.

Shares of J.B. Hunt (NASDAQ: JBHT) were trading Wednesday afternoon at $102 per share, down $1.80, or 1.73%. In the past 52 weeks, the stock has ranged between $131.74 and $88.38.