Bokf Na Raises Stake in ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB)

Bokf Na boosted its holdings in shares of ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) by 157.5% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,536 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,998 shares during the quarter. Bokf Na’s holdings in ArcBest were worth $700,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. raised its position in ArcBest by 6.5% during the second quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 2,095 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $224,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new stake in ArcBest in the 2nd quarter valued at $588,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in ArcBest by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 525,471 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $56,267,000 after acquiring an additional 20,115 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp grew its stake in ArcBest by 15.4% in the 2nd quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 23,892 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,558,000 after acquiring an additional 3,183 shares during the period. Finally, PFG Investments LLC grew its stake in ArcBest by 9.7% in the 2nd quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 1,986 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $213,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares during the period. 99.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Salvatore A. Abbate purchased 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, with a total value of $103,930.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 3,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $379,344.50. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.65% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

ArcBest Price Performance

ArcBest stock opened at $103.83 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.46. ArcBest Co. has a 12-month low of $86.93 and a 12-month high of $153.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $109.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $118.59.

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The transportation company reported $1.98 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.03 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.06 billion. ArcBest had a net margin of 2.96% and a return on equity of 15.98%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.54 EPS. Equities analysts predict that ArcBest Co. will post 7.21 earnings per share for the current year.

ArcBest Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 13th were paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 13th. ArcBest’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.66%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on ARCB shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on ArcBest from $134.00 to $133.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 6th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on ArcBest from $150.00 to $131.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. StockNews.com raised ArcBest from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of ArcBest in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded ArcBest from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $122.00 to $112.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.18.

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.