J.B. Hunt shareholders meet, approve directors and dividend

“Think big, looking forward” was the agenda at J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. annual shareholder meeting Thursday (April 23), and has been the focus of this logistics giant since it’s earliest origin in 1961.

Shareholders had plenty to celebrate given the stock price is up 21% over the past year breaking through the $90 barrier on the heels of strong first quarter results in 2015. A new 52-week high price of $93.50 was reached in recent days amid upgrades from Bank of America and a new target price of $100 set by Stephens Inc. analyst Brad Delco after the solid earnings from the first quarter.

Co-founder Johnelle Hunt, also the largest shareholder, was on hand for the brief meeting which convened promptly at 10 a.m. called to order by Board Chairman Kirk Thompson. In regular board business shareholders elected a slate of 11 directors with at least 90% of the majority vote:
• Doug Duncan
• Fran Edwardson
• Wayne Garrison
• Sharilyn Gassaway
• Gary George
• Bryan Hunt
• Coleman Peterson
• John Roberts
• James Robo
• Kirk Thompson
• John White

Chief Financial Officer David Mee presided over the business portion of the meeting announcing each of the directors by name and joking that a few of them were there to watch him given he made a “C” in intermediate accounting. Shareholders also ratified the appointment of Ernst & Young as its independent public accountant for 2015 with 99% of the voting majority. 

Hunt’s first ever shareholder initiated proposal which sought to require the company to adopt quantitative goals toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions failed with just 17% of shareholders supporting this proposal. The board of directors did not support the proposal stating that the company already has in place adequate goals involving environmental sustainability.

CEO John Roberts restated some of the company’s accomplishments over the past year. 
• It was the fifth consecutive year for earnings growth.
• The intemodal segment shipped 1.7 million loads.
• The Dedicated Contract Services (DCS) segment hauled 2.1 million loads.
• Integrated Capacity Solutions (ICS) segment revenue grew 33.8% to $718 million.
• The Truckload segment got back on its feet operating income rose 560% from 2013.

He said the ICS segment opened three new operations centers in 2014 in Fort Worth, Texas, Kansas City, Mo., and San Bernardino, Calif., which is near the large port operations at Long Beach. The company also recently opened a redundant IT data center in Bolder. Colo. 

“Our biggest segments are growing and the smaller segments are now adding meaningful contributions to the overall company result in revenue and more particularly in new customers,” Roberts said.

Aside from the numbers, Roberts said there is a lot of good work that takes place daily among the workforce at Hunt. He said the company’s 360 launch in 2014 has been a huge benefit that gives customers their own portal into Hunt’s operations and eliminated the need for phone calls or faxes. 

“I doubt many of the younger folks even know what a fax is these days,” Roberts said.

The company also recently launched its new human resource software “Workday” which focuses on talent management and development which is key to the company’s future, he added.

Roberts concluded by showing a short video of highlights that reflected the overall J.B. Hunt experience beyond the deliveries and spreadsheets. Images of volunteers for Habitat for Humanity, hiring veterans and rewarding drivers for 1 million safe miles were part of the brief video.

Thompson concluded the meeting, joking to Mee that had made an “A” in  intermediate accounting and he would be watching.

Following the 20-minute meeting the board of directors declared a 21-cent per share cash dividend payable to shareholders of record on May 8. The cash dividend is payable May 22. Shares of J.B. Hunt Transport (NASDAQ: JBHT) were trading at $92 on Thursday morning, up 22 cents on the day.