Stephens Inc. AR Increases Holdings in ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB)

Stephens Inc. AR boosted its holdings in shares of ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 8,128 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 170 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in ArcBest were worth $758,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ARCB. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in ArcBest by 146.3% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 298 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the period. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in ArcBest during the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in ArcBest by 63.7% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 514 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC increased its holdings in ArcBest by 60.6% during the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 546 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the period. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in ArcBest by 17.9% during the 3rd quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 625 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.27% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on ArcBest from $109.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on ArcBest from $105.00 to $96.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on ArcBest from $160.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup upped their target price on ArcBest from $110.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on ArcBest from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $118.91.

ArcBest Stock Performance

Shares of ARCB opened at $95.00 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.51. ArcBest Co. has a 52 week low of $90.25 and a 52 week high of $153.60. 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $98.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $104.29.

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The transportation company reported $1.33 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm posted $2.47 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that ArcBest Co. will post 7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ArcBest Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be given a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. ArcBest’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.55%.

Insider Activity at ArcBest

In related news, Director Craig E. Philip sold 3,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.91, for a total value of $428,649.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,555,407.50. This represents a 14.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.65% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.