ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.12

ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, April 26th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th will be paid a dividend of 0.12 per share by the transportation company on Friday, May 24th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th.

ArcBest has raised its dividend payment by an average of 14.5% annually over the last three years. ArcBest has a dividend payout ratio of 3.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect ArcBest to earn $11.31 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.48 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 4.2%.

ArcBest Stock Performance

Shares of ARCB traded up $1.46 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $119.45. The stock had a trading volume of 11,781 shares, compared to its average volume of 315,865. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $137.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $126.16. ArcBest has a one year low of $82.18 and a one year high of $153.60. The firm has a market cap of $2.81 billion, a PE ratio of 23.74, a P/E/G ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 1.56.

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The transportation company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.53 by ($0.19). The company had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. ArcBest had a return on equity of 15.27% and a net margin of 2.80%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.58 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that ArcBest will post 9 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on ARCB shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on ArcBest from $133.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of ArcBest from $177.00 to $148.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of ArcBest from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of ArcBest from $164.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, StockNews.com cut ArcBest from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $143.38.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Erin K. Gattis sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.58, for a total value of $283,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.