ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) have been given an average rating of “Hold” by the thirteen brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $129.33.

ARCB has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on ArcBest from $150.00 to $131.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of ArcBest from $180.00 to $176.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Bank of America lowered their target price on ArcBest from $102.00 to $99.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered ArcBest from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $122.00 to $112.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on ArcBest from $133.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday.

ArcBest Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ARCB opened at $105.95 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. ArcBest has a 1 year low of $86.93 and a 1 year high of $153.60. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $105.55 and a 200-day moving average of $114.76.

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) last announced its 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 company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.06 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.54 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that ArcBest will post 7.06 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 13th. ArcBest’s dividend payout ratio is 9.07%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Salvatore A. Abbate purchased 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 12th. The stock was bought at an average price of $103.93 per share, with a total value of $103,930.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 3,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $379,344.50. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.65% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of ArcBest

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of ArcBest by 70.9% in the first quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 188 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the period. Quarry LP raised its stake in shares of ArcBest by 120.7% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 245 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of ArcBest during the second quarter valued at $33,000. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of ArcBest during the second quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Cultivar Capital Inc. bought a new stake in shares of ArcBest in the second quarter worth $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.27% of the company’s stock.

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.