ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) Short Interest Update

ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 1,430,000 shares, a decrease of 19.2% from the September 15th total of 1,770,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 264,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.4 days. Approximately 6.2% of the company’s stock are short sold.

ArcBest Price Performance

ArcBest stock traded up $0.13 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $106.08. 91,178 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 289,538. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.19. ArcBest has a 12 month low of $86.93 and a 12 month high of $153.60. The business’s 50-day moving average is $105.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $114.45.

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

ArcBest Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 13th were paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 13th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. ArcBest’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Salvatore A. Abbate acquired 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 12th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $103.93 per share, for a total transaction of $103,930.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 3,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $379,344.50. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.65% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ArcBest

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ARCB. Quarry LP lifted its holdings in ArcBest by 120.7% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 245 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the period. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in 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. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in ArcBest in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in ArcBest in the second quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Cultivar Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in ArcBest in the second quarter worth $43,000. 99.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ARCB. StockNews.com raised shares of ArcBest from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on ArcBest from $150.00 to $131.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered ArcBest from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $122.00 to $112.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on ArcBest from $134.00 to $133.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of ArcBest from $180.00 to $176.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ArcBest currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $127.92.

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.