Vanguard Group Inc. Boosts Stake in ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB)

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB - Free Report) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,771,123 shares of the transportation company's stock after purchasing an additional 20,665 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 11.84% of ArcBest worth $258,601,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARCB. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of ArcBest by 16.3% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 618,919 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $57,758,000 after purchasing an additional 86,867 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position 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. Barclays PLC grew its stake in ArcBest by 342.5% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 43,134 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $4,678,000 after buying an additional 33,386 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position 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 buying an additional 17,542 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in ArcBest by 16.0% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 116,672 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $12,653,000 after buying an additional 16,103 shares during the last quarter. 99.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ArcBest Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ARCB traded up $12.17 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $71.76. The company had a trading volume of 1,194,583 shares, compared to its average volume of 298,726. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. ArcBest Co. has a twelve month low of $57.80 and a twelve month high of $152.35. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $79.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $95.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.66 billion, a PE ratio of 9.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.62.

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The transportation company reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that ArcBest Co. will post 7 earnings per share for the current year.

ArcBest Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other ArcBest news, CFO John Matthew Beasley purchased 700 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $74.89 per share, with a total value of $52,423.00. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer now owns 8,142 shares in the company, valued at approximately $609,754.38. This represents a 9.41 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.28% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ARCB has been the subject of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of ArcBest from $126.00 to $108.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of ArcBest from $109.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of ArcBest from $83.00 to $66.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of ArcBest from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price target on ArcBest from $100.00 to $73.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $102.67.

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.