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

Shares of ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $125.44.

Several brokerages have issued reports on ARCB. Credit Suisse Group downgraded shares of ArcBest from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $104.00 to $127.00 in a research report on Monday, July 31st. Wolfe Research raised shares of ArcBest from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $132.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, August 21st. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of ArcBest from $123.00 to $110.00 in a research report on Friday, September 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of ArcBest from $105.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 31st. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of ArcBest in a report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company.

Insider Buying and Selling at ArcBest

In other ArcBest news, Director Kathleen D. Mcelligott sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.24, for a total value of $551,200.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 18,900 shares in the company, valued at $2,083,536. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Craig E. Philip sold 2,700 shares of ArcBest stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.60, for a total transaction of $287,820.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 28,400 shares in the company, valued at $3,027,440. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kathleen D. Mcelligott sold 5,000 shares of ArcBest stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.24, for a total transaction of $551,200.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 18,900 shares in the company, valued at $2,083,536. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 51,922 shares of company stock worth $5,778,701. 1.65% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ArcBest

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of ArcBest during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of ArcBest during the second quarter valued at about $37,000. National Bank of Canada FI bought a new stake in shares of ArcBest during the first quarter valued at about $55,000. Ancora Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of ArcBest during the first quarter valued at about $56,000. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of ArcBest during the second quarter valued at about $58,000. 95.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

ArcBest Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ARCB opened at $103.20 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. ArcBest has a 52-week low of $68.00 and a 52-week high of $122.86. The company has a 50 day moving average of $106.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $96.39. The company has a market capitalization of $2.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.91 and a beta of 1.58.

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 28th. The transportation company reported $1.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.04 by ($0.50). ArcBest had a net margin of 4.95% and a return on equity of 20.06%. The firm had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.11 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $4.30 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 16.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that ArcBest will post 6.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ArcBest Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 9th were paid a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 8th. ArcBest’s payout ratio is 5.07%.

ArcBest Company Profile

ArcBest Corporation provides freight transportation and integrated logistics services. It operates through three segments: Asset-Based, ArcBest, and FleetNet. The Asset-Based segment transports general commodities, such as food, textiles, apparel, furniture, appliances, chemicals, nonbulk petroleum products, rubber, plastics, metal and metal products, wood, glass, automotive parts, machinery, and miscellaneous manufactured products through less-than-truckload services.