American Century Companies Inc. Increases Stock Position in ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB)

American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB - Free Report) by 16.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 618,919 shares of the transportation company's stock after buying an additional 86,867 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned 2.64% of ArcBest worth $57,758,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of ArcBest by 1.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 957,410 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $103,831,000 after acquiring an additional 17,542 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in ArcBest by 0.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 551,821 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $59,856,000 after acquiring an additional 3,475 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of ArcBest by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 426,155 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $39,769,000 after buying an additional 11,894 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in ArcBest by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 232,627 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $21,709,000 after purchasing an additional 13,152 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of ArcBest by 24.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 221,507 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $24,022,000 after acquiring an additional 43,707 shares in the last quarter. 99.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Remove Ads

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO John Matthew Beasley acquired 700 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $74.89 per share, with a total value of $52,423.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 1.28% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ARCB. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of ArcBest from $100.00 to $73.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Stephens reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $116.00 price target on shares of ArcBest in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on ArcBest from $109.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of ArcBest from $126.00 to $108.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of ArcBest from $160.00 to $145.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $107.00.

ArcBest Stock Performance

ARCB traded down $2.76 on Friday, reaching $70.80. 233,061 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 289,964. The company's 50-day moving average price is $85.12 and its 200 day moving average price is $97.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.64 billion, a PE ratio of 9.66, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.54. ArcBest Co. has a fifty-two week low of $68.83 and a fifty-two week high of $153.61.

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The transportation company reported $1.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.22. ArcBest had a net margin of 4.16% and a return on equity of 11.79%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.47 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that ArcBest Co. will post 7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ArcBest Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. ArcBest's payout ratio is presently 6.55%.

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.