Stephens Reiterates Overweight Rating for ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB)

Stephens reaffirmed their overweight rating on shares of ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) in a research report report published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $116.00 price objective on the transportation company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on ArcBest from $109.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on ArcBest from $160.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup increased their price target on ArcBest from $110.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. UBS Group decreased their target price on ArcBest from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on ArcBest from $105.00 to $96.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, ArcBest has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $109.75.

ArcBest Price Performance

Shares of ARCB opened at $73.03 on Tuesday. ArcBest has a 12-month low of $70.96 and a 12-month high of $153.61. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $90.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $100.27. 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 stock has a market cap of $1.69 billion, a PE ratio of 9.96, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.54.

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The transportation company reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 in the previous year, the business earned $2.47 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that ArcBest will post 7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ArcBest Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued 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 yield of 0.66%. ArcBest’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.55%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO John Matthew Beasley purchased 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $74.89 per share, with a total value of $52,423.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 8,142 shares in the company, valued at approximately $609,754.38. This trade represents a 9.41 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.65% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in ArcBest by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,156 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $342,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management increased its stake in ArcBest by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management now owns 3,680 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $399,000 after buying an additional 312 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP increased its stake in ArcBest by 22.6% in the 3rd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 15,266 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,656,000 after buying an additional 2,810 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its position in shares of ArcBest by 36.8% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 851 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $92,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of ArcBest by 3.5% during the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,509 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $272,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.27% of the company’s stock.

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.