J.B. Hunt shareholders approve 4 proposals

Arkansas Transportation ReportLatest NewsNorthwest Arkansas

by Jeff Della Rosa ([email protected]) April 27, 2023 11:26 am 1,222 views 

Lowell-based carrier J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. hosted its annual shareholders meeting Thursday (April 27). Shareholders approved four proposals in the 10-minute meeting at the company’s headquarters.

Following are the proposals that shareholders approved:

  • Election of directors
  • Advisory vote on executive pay
  • One-year frequency of advisory vote on executive pay
  • Appointing PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as the independent registered public accounting firm for 2023.

Eight board members were reelected, including Francesca Edwardson, Wayne Garrison, Sharilyn Gasaway, Thad Hill, Bryan Hunt, CEO John Roberts, James Robo and chairman Kirk Thompson. Shareholders selected Persio Lisboa to fill the open position on the nine-member board.

Earlier this year, the directors voted to reduce the number of board members to nine from 11. The following three board members didn’t seek reelection and are no longer on the board: Douglas Duncan, Gary George and Gale King. Director terms are for one year until the next shareholders’ meeting.

After the meeting, Roberts and President Shelley Simpson spoke about 2022 company highlights and noted the headwinds that the carrier faces in the soft freight market. They also celebrated Thompson as the first employee with 50 years of experience at J.B. Hunt. Simpson said the company has 677 employees with more than 25 years of experience.

On April 17, J.B. Hunt reported first-quarter earnings declined by 18.7% to $197.76 million from $243.32 million in the same period in 2022. Revenue fell by 7.4% to $3.22 billion from $3.48 billion.

In 2022, earnings rose by 27.4% to $969.35 million from $760.8 million in 2021. Revenue increased by 21.7% to $14.81 billion from $12.16 billion.

J.B. Hunt has 37,000 employees and 180,000 trailers and containers. Of the latter, 115,000 comprise intermodal containers. In March 2022, J.B. Hunt announced plans to expand its intermodal fleet by more than 40% to as many as 150,000 containers in three to five years. At that time, the carrier had more than 109,000 containers.

Shares of J.B. Hunt (NASDAQ: JBHT) were trading Thursday at $169.41, up $3.79 or 2.29%. In the past 52 weeks, the stock has ranged between $153.92 and $200.64.