ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the thirteen ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $151.54.

A number of research firms have issued reports on ARCB. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of ArcBest in a research note on Monday, January 29th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $148.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of ArcBest from $168.00 to $164.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of ArcBest from $119.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of ArcBest from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Stephens lifted their price target on shares of ArcBest from $165.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Erin K. Gattis sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.58, for a total value of $283,160.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 32,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,565,530.26. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.65% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARCB. Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC acquired a new position in ArcBest during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,108,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in ArcBest by 175.4% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 195,270 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $19,849,000 after purchasing an additional 124,354 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new stake in ArcBest during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $10,561,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in ArcBest during the 4th quarter worth approximately $9,298,000. Finally, Moody Aldrich Partners LLC acquired a new position in ArcBest during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $5,835,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.27% of the company’s stock.

ArcBest Stock Performance

ARCB stock opened at $127.89 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market cap of $3.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.17, a P/E/G ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.49. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $140.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $125.08. ArcBest has a 52 week low of $82.18 and a 52 week high of $153.60.

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The transportation company reported $2.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.22 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.09 billion. ArcBest had a net margin of 4.41% and a return on equity of 15.91%. The company’s revenue was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.45 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that ArcBest will post 10.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ArcBest Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 16th were paid a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.38%. ArcBest’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.07%.

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.