ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) Upgraded at The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Monday, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has $101.00 price target on the transportation company’s stock, up from their previous price target of $84.00.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on ArcBest from $102.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group reduced their target price on ArcBest from $100.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Bank of America increased their target price on ArcBest from $58.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Wall Street Zen upgraded ArcBest from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their target price on ArcBest from $80.00 to $72.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $89.67.

ArcBest Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ARCB opened at $63.73 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $63.36 and its 200 day moving average is $83.10. ArcBest has a fifty-two week low of $55.19 and a fifty-two week high of $129.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.46 billion, a PE ratio of 8.69, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.01.

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The transportation company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.52 by ($0.01). ArcBest had a net margin of 4.16% and a return on equity of 11.79%. The company had revenue of $967.08 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $990.03 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.34 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that ArcBest will post 7 earnings per share for the current year.

ArcBest Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 9th were given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 9th. ArcBest’s payout ratio is 6.35%.

Insider Transactions at ArcBest

In related news, CFO John Matthew Beasley acquired 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $74.89 per share, with a total value of $52,423.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 8,142 shares in the company, valued at $609,754.38. This trade represents a 9.41% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ArcBest

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARCB. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in ArcBest during the first quarter valued at about $18,460,000. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its stake in ArcBest by 36.7% in the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 869,267 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $61,353,000 after buying an additional 233,409 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in ArcBest by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,571,917 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $240,011,000 after buying an additional 220,325 shares during the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC raised its stake in ArcBest by 1,812.9% in the first quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 204,587 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $14,440,000 after buying an additional 193,892 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. purchased a new stake in ArcBest in the first quarter valued at about $9,202,000. Institutional investors own 99.27% of the company’s stock.

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.