Short Interest in ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) Grows By 11.9%

ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,600,000 shares, a growth of 11.9% from the September 30th total of 1,430,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 250,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 6.4 days. Currently, 6.9% of the shares of the company are short sold.

ArcBest Stock Down 1.5 %

ARCB opened at $104.37 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market cap of $2.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.31, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.46. ArcBest has a 52 week low of $94.76 and a 52 week high of $153.60. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $105.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $111.16.

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The transportation company reported $1.98 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.06 billion. ArcBest had a net margin of 2.96% and a return on equity of 15.98%. The firm’s revenue was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.54 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that ArcBest will post 7.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on ARCB shares. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on ArcBest from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company cut ArcBest from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $122.00 to $112.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Citigroup assumed coverage on ArcBest in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $111.00 price target for the company. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on ArcBest from $131.00 to $119.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded ArcBest from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, ArcBest presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $126.92.

Insider Transactions at ArcBest

In other ArcBest news, Director Salvatore A. Abbate acquired 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 12th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $103.93 per share, for a total transaction of $103,930.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $379,344.50. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.65% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of ArcBest

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ARCB. Quarry LP boosted its stake in ArcBest by 120.7% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 245 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in ArcBest in the 2nd quarter worth about $33,000. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in ArcBest in the 2nd quarter worth about $36,000. Cultivar Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in ArcBest in the 2nd quarter worth about $43,000. Finally, Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in ArcBest in the 2nd quarter worth about $46,000. 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.