ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB – Get Rating) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $117.38.

Several research firms recently issued reports on ARCB. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $138.00 target price on shares of ArcBest in a research note on Monday, February 13th. StockNews.com started coverage on ArcBest in a report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Cowen upped their price target on ArcBest from $124.00 to $127.00 in a report on Monday, February 6th. Citigroup upped their price target on ArcBest from $90.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 2nd. Finally, Credit Suisse Group upped their price target on ArcBest from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 6th.

ArcBest Stock Performance

Shares of ArcBest stock opened at $93.39 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $91.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.56. ArcBest has a 52 week low of $65.15 and a 52 week high of $104.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The firm has a market cap of $2.27 billion, a PE ratio of 8.01 and a beta of 1.58.

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 3rd. The transportation company reported $2.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.64 by ($0.19). ArcBest had a return on equity of 32.17% and a net margin of 5.60%. The firm had revenue of $1.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.79 EPS. ArcBest’s revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that ArcBest will post 10.42 earnings per share for the current year.

ArcBest Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 14th were issued a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 13th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. ArcBest’s payout ratio is currently 4.12%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ARCB. Wipfli Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in ArcBest during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in ArcBest by 190.6% during the 4th quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 462 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in ArcBest by 103.2% during the 3rd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 689 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 350 shares during the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC purchased a new position in ArcBest during the 1st quarter worth approximately $56,000. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in ArcBest during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $58,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.59% of the company’s stock.

About ArcBest

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ArcBest Corp. is a logistics company which provides end-to-end supply chain services with a focus on innovation. It operates through the following business segments: Asset-Based, ArcBest and FleetNet. The Asset-Based segment includes national, inter-regional, and regional transportation of general commodities through standard, expedited, and guaranteed less-than-truckload services.