ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) Stock Gets Price Target Trim from Citigroup

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) had its price objective lowered by Citigroup from $173.00 to $170.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the transportation company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on ARCB. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of ArcBest from $150.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Stephens raised shares of ArcBest to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of ArcBest in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $172.00 price objective on shares of ArcBest in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of ArcBest from $134.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $153.15.

ArcBest Price Performance

ArcBest stock opened at $129.36 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $134.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $133.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The company has a market capitalization of $2.89 billion, a PE ratio of 187.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 1.70. ArcBest has a one year low of $59.43 and a one year high of $176.69.

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The transportation company reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26 by $0.12. ArcBest had a return on equity of 7.92% and a net margin of 0.39%. The firm had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.17 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.36 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that ArcBest will post 7.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ArcBest Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 21st. Investors of record on Friday, August 7th were issued a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 7th. ArcBest’s payout ratio is currently 69.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Jason Parks sold 855 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.09, for a total transaction of $115,501.95. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 3,794 shares in the company, valued at $512,531.46. This represents a 18.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Judy McReynolds sold 2,857 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.98, for a total transaction of $397,065.86. Following the sale, the director directly owned 50,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,955,671.04. This represents a 5.40% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 12,818 shares of company stock worth $1,793,568 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.98% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of ArcBest

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in ArcBest by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,503 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $319,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC acquired a new position in ArcBest during the 2nd quarter worth $638,000. WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new position in ArcBest in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,679,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP bought a new position in ArcBest in the 2nd quarter valued at $894,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ArcBest in the 2nd quarter valued at $4,194,000. 99.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About ArcBest

ArcBest Corporation (NASDAQ: ARCB) is a logistics company that provides freight transportation and supply chain services to businesses in North America and international markets. Headquartered in Fort Smith, Arkansas, the company serves manufacturers, distributors, retailers and other commercial customers through a combination of asset-based transportation and asset-light logistics solutions.

ArcBest’s asset-based operations are conducted primarily through ABF Freight, a less-than-truckload carrier that transports palletized freight and offers regional, interregional and long-distance services.