Granite Investment Partners LLC Reduces Position in ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB)

Granite Investment Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB - Free Report) by 26.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 114,388 shares of the transportation company's stock after selling 41,986 shares during the period. Granite Investment Partners LLC owned about 0.49% of ArcBest worth $10,675,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ARCB. State Street Corp boosted its stake in ArcBest by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 957,410 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $103,831,000 after purchasing an additional 17,542 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio boosted its position in shares of ArcBest by 7.6% during the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 34,124 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $3,701,000 after acquiring an additional 2,403 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its stake in ArcBest by 342.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 43,134 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $4,678,000 after acquiring an additional 33,386 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in ArcBest by 0.6% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in ArcBest in the 3rd quarter valued at $485,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.27% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at ArcBest

In other ArcBest news, CFO John Matthew Beasley acquired 700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly 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 acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on ARCB shares. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on ArcBest from $160.00 to $145.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Truist Financial started coverage on ArcBest in a report on Thursday, March 13th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $93.00 target price for the company. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of ArcBest from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of ArcBest from $108.00 to $97.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their target price on ArcBest from $100.00 to $73.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $101.75.

ArcBest Stock Up 4.1 %

ArcBest stock traded up $2.38 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $60.99. 248,116 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 297,637. ArcBest Co. has a 12 month low of $57.38 and a 12 month high of $146.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.01. The company has a market cap of $1.41 billion, a PE ratio of 8.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.62. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $74.94 and a two-hundred day moving average of $93.23.

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The transportation company reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 quarter last year, the company earned $2.47 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that ArcBest Co. will post 7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ArcBest Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. ArcBest's payout ratio is currently 6.55%.

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.