ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) Sets New 1-Year Low – Here’s Why

ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) reached a new 52-week low on Monday . The company traded as low as $68.83 and last traded at $70.58, with a volume of 452952 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $70.80.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ARCB. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on ArcBest from $126.00 to $108.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on ArcBest from $109.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of ArcBest from $100.00 to $73.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of ArcBest from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of ArcBest from $103.00 to $83.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $107.00.

ArcBest Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $1.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The company’s fifty day moving average is $83.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $97.44.

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The transportation company reported $1.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.22. ArcBest had a return on equity of 11.79% and a net margin of 4.16%. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.47 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that ArcBest Co. will post 7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ArcBest Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. ArcBest’s dividend payout ratio is 6.55%.

Insider Activity at ArcBest

In other ArcBest news, CFO John Matthew Beasley acquired 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $74.89 per share, for a total transaction of $52,423.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 8,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $609,754.38. This trade represents a 9.41 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.28% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ArcBest

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in shares of ArcBest by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,571,917 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $240,011,000 after buying an additional 220,325 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of ArcBest by 47.2% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 326,006 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $30,423,000 after acquiring an additional 104,499 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in ArcBest by 16.3% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 618,919 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $57,758,000 after acquiring an additional 86,867 shares in the last quarter. Eisler Capital Management Ltd. acquired a new position in ArcBest during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $7,695,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of ArcBest during the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,826,000. 99.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ArcBest Company Profile

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.