ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twelve ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $118.91.

Several research firms have recently commented on ARCB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on ArcBest from $130.00 to $117.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group reduced their price target on ArcBest from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup boosted their price target on ArcBest from $110.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on ArcBest from $105.00 to $96.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on ArcBest from $109.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Craig E. Philip sold 3,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.91, for a total value of $428,649.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,555,407.50. This represents a 14.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.65% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of ArcBest by 146.3% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 298 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the period. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of ArcBest in the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of ArcBest by 471.9% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 549 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 453 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of ArcBest by 63.7% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 514 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of ArcBest by 60.6% in the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 546 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. 99.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ArcBest Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ ARCB opened at $95.14 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $97.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $103.56. The firm has a market cap of $2.23 billion, a PE ratio of 12.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.51. ArcBest has a twelve month low of $90.25 and a twelve month high of $153.60.

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The transportation company reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.22. ArcBest had a return on equity of 11.79% and a net margin of 4.16%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.47 earnings per share. Analysts expect that ArcBest will post 7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ArcBest Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be issued a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 11th. ArcBest’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.55%.

ArcBest Company Profile

ArcBest Corporation, an integrated logistics company, engages in the provision of ground, air, and ocean transportation solutions. It operates through two segments: Asset-Based and Asset-Light. The Asset-Based segment provides less-than-truckload (LTL) services, that transports general commodities, such as food, textiles, apparel, furniture, appliances, chemicals, non-bulk petroleum products, rubber, plastics, metal and metal products, wood, glass, automotive parts, machinery, and miscellaneous manufactured products.