Royce & Associates LP Raises Stock Holdings in ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB)

Royce & Associates LP boosted its holdings in shares of ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB - Free Report) by 9.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 85,185 shares of the transportation company's stock after purchasing an additional 7,602 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP owned about 0.36% of ArcBest worth $7,949,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARCB. State Street Corp grew its holdings in ArcBest by 1.9% during 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 shares of ArcBest by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 551,821 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $59,856,000 after purchasing an additional 3,475 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of ArcBest by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 426,155 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $39,769,000 after purchasing an additional 11,894 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of ArcBest by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 232,627 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $21,709,000 after purchasing an additional 13,152 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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 valued at $24,022,000 after purchasing an additional 43,707 shares during the period. 99.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

ARCB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of ArcBest from $100.00 to $73.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. UBS Group reduced their price target on ArcBest from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Stephens reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $116.00 price objective on shares of ArcBest in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on ArcBest from $160.00 to $145.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of ArcBest from $126.00 to $108.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $108.33.

ArcBest Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ARCB traded down $0.14 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $71.66. The company's stock had a trading volume of 512,081 shares, compared to its average volume of 283,168. The company has a market cap of $1.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.54. ArcBest Co. has a 12-month low of $68.83 and a 12-month high of $153.61. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $87.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $98.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.01.

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The transportation company reported $1.33 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 period in the prior year, the business posted $2.47 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that ArcBest Co. will post 7 EPS for the current year.

ArcBest Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. ArcBest's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling at ArcBest

In other news, CFO John Matthew Beasley bought 700 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $74.89 per share, for a total transaction of $52,423.00. Following the acquisition, 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 position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.65% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.