ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) Short Interest Up 7.6% in March

ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,420,000 shares, an increase of 7.6% from the March 15th total of 1,320,000 shares. Approximately 6.2% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 294,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.8 days.

ArcBest Stock Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ ARCB traded down $0.34 on Tuesday, reaching $149.61. The company had a trading volume of 117,324 shares, compared to its average volume of 298,961. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.52 billion, a PE ratio of 18.96, a P/E/G ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 1.49. ArcBest has a 1 year low of $82.18 and a 1 year high of $153.60. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $140.45 and a 200-day moving average of $122.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.26.

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The transportation company reported $2.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.22 by $0.25. ArcBest had a return on equity of 15.91% and a net margin of 4.41%. The company had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.45 EPS. ArcBest’s quarterly revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that ArcBest will post 10.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ArcBest Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 16th were given a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. ArcBest’s payout ratio is 6.07%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on ARCB. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of ArcBest in a research note on Monday, January 29th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $148.00 target price for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of ArcBest from $133.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of ArcBest from $141.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of ArcBest from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of ArcBest from $168.00 to $164.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, ArcBest presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $151.54.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Erin K. Gattis sold 2,000 shares of ArcBest stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.58, for a total transaction of $283,160.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 32,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,565,530.26. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.18% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ArcBest

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ARCB. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its position in ArcBest by 13.0% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 2,737 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $220,000 after buying an additional 314 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. boosted its position in shares of ArcBest by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 24,501 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,972,000 after purchasing an additional 1,061 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of ArcBest by 55.3% in the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 13,678 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,101,000 after purchasing an additional 4,871 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its position in shares of ArcBest by 10.9% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 21,438 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,726,000 after purchasing an additional 2,114 shares during the period. Finally, APG Asset Management N.V. acquired a new position in shares of ArcBest in the 1st quarter valued at $1,461,000. 99.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.