ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) Lowered to Equal Weight Rating by Stephens

Stephens downgraded shares of ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research note released on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $72.00 price objective on the transportation company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on ARCB. Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of ArcBest in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of ArcBest from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of ArcBest from $67.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Zacks Research upgraded shares of ArcBest to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on ArcBest from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $85.67.

ArcBest Stock Performance

ARCB stock opened at $65.03 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $72.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $71.28. ArcBest has a fifty-two week low of $55.19 and a fifty-two week high of $122.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.48 billion, a PE ratio of 9.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.67.

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The transportation company reported $1.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. ArcBest had a return on equity of 8.67% and a net margin of 3.90%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.64 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that ArcBest will post 7 EPS for the current year.

ArcBest Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 14th. ArcBest’s payout ratio is 7.14%.

Institutional Trading of ArcBest

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ARCB. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of ArcBest by 158.7% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 490,064 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $37,740,000 after buying an additional 300,642 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in ArcBest in the 1st quarter valued at $18,460,000. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. boosted its stake in ArcBest by 36.7% in the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 869,267 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $61,353,000 after purchasing an additional 233,409 shares during the period. Ancora Advisors LLC increased its holdings in ArcBest by 1,812.9% during the 1st quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 204,587 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $14,440,000 after purchasing an additional 193,892 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Encompass Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in ArcBest during the 2nd quarter worth about $12,657,000. 99.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.