Royce & Associates LP Increases Stock Position in ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB)

Royce & Associates LP boosted its holdings in ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) by 9.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 85,185 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 7,602 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP owned approximately 0.36% of ArcBest worth $7,949,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ARCB. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of ArcBest by 146.3% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 298 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the period. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in ArcBest during the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of ArcBest by 471.9% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 549 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 453 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of ArcBest by 60.6% in the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 546 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of ArcBest by 17.9% in the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 625 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $68,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.27% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at ArcBest

In other news, CFO John Matthew Beasley acquired 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $74.89 per share, for a total transaction of $52,423.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 8,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $609,754.38. The trade was a 9.41 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on ARCB shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of ArcBest from $126.00 to $108.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on ArcBest from $109.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Citigroup decreased their target price on ArcBest from $103.00 to $83.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on ArcBest from $105.00 to $96.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of ArcBest from $160.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $108.33.

ArcBest Price Performance

Shares of ArcBest stock opened at $72.45 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a fifty day moving average of $89.16 and a 200-day moving average of $99.50. ArcBest Co. has a 52-week low of $70.96 and a 52-week high of $153.61. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The transportation company reported $1.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.22. ArcBest had a net margin of 4.16% and a return on equity of 11.79%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.47 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that ArcBest Co. will post 7 EPS for the current year.

ArcBest Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. ArcBest’s payout ratio is 6.55%.

ArcBest 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.