Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Buys 128 Shares of ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. raised its stake in ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,095 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 128 shares during the quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in ArcBest were worth $224,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of ArcBest in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $588,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in ArcBest by 4.0% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 525,471 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $56,267,000 after purchasing an additional 20,115 shares in the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp raised its holdings in ArcBest by 15.4% in the second quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 23,892 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,558,000 after purchasing an additional 3,183 shares during the period. PFG Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of ArcBest by 9.7% during the second quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 1,986 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $213,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of ArcBest in the 2nd quarter valued at $36,000. Institutional investors own 99.27% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Salvatore A. Abbate purchased 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 12th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $103.93 per share, for a total transaction of $103,930.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 3,650 shares in the company, valued at $379,344.50. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on ARCB shares. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded ArcBest from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $122.00 to $112.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of ArcBest from $180.00 to $176.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 8th. StockNews.com raised shares of ArcBest from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on ArcBest from $134.00 to $133.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 6th. Finally, Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of ArcBest in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.18.

ArcBest Stock Performance

Shares of ARCB opened at $103.83 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $109.78 and a 200-day moving average of $118.59. The company has a market cap of $2.46 billion, a PE ratio of 20.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.46. ArcBest Co. has a one year low of $86.93 and a one year high of $153.60.

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The transportation company reported $1.98 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by ($0.05). ArcBest had a return on equity of 15.98% and a net margin of 2.96%. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.06 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.54 EPS. ArcBest’s quarterly revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that ArcBest Co. will post 7.21 earnings per share for the current year.

ArcBest Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 13th were paid a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 13th. ArcBest’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.66%.

About ArcBest

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.