ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,320,000 shares, a decline of 7.0% from the March 31st total of 1,420,000 shares. Approximately 5.7% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 328,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.0 days.

ArcBest Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ARCB traded down $16.57 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $112.88. The stock had a trading volume of 644,120 shares, compared to its average volume of 310,542. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $139.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $125.62. ArcBest has a 1 year low of $82.18 and a 1 year high of $153.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a market capitalization of $2.65 billion, a PE ratio of 14.54, a P/E/G ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 1.49.

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The transportation company reported $2.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.22 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.09 billion. ArcBest had a net margin of 4.41% and a return on equity of 15.91%. ArcBest’s revenue was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.45 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that ArcBest will post 10.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ArcBest Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. ArcBest’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.07%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America boosted their price target on ArcBest from $141.00 to $143.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Stephens upped their target price on shares of ArcBest from $165.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. StockNews.com upgraded ArcBest from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on ArcBest from $133.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of ArcBest from $119.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. One equities 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $151.54.

Insider Activity

In other ArcBest news, insider Erin K. Gattis sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 this hyperlink. 1.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of ArcBest

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of ArcBest by 49.3% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 227 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of ArcBest by 70.9% in the first quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 188 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in shares of ArcBest by 15,450.0% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 311 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in ArcBest in the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in ArcBest by 45.8% in the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 363 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. 99.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ArcBest Company Profile

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.