Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Makes New Investment in ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 5,487 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $588,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd bought a new position in shares of ArcBest in the 1st quarter worth $666,000. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new stake in ArcBest in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $811,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in ArcBest in the fourth quarter worth $9,298,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of ArcBest by 20.5% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 154,972 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $18,629,000 after purchasing an additional 26,411 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of ArcBest by 39.6% during the 1st quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 15,002 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,138,000 after purchasing an additional 4,258 shares during the last quarter. 99.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at ArcBest

In other news, Director Salvatore A. Abbate bought 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 12th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $103.93 per share, with a total value of $103,930.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 3,650 shares in the company, valued at $379,344.50. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.65% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

ArcBest Stock Up 3.9 %

NASDAQ:ARCB opened at $103.83 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $109.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $119.14. ArcBest Co. has a 1-year low of $86.93 and a 1-year high of $153.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.89, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.46.

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The transportation company reported $1.98 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.03 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.06 billion. ArcBest had a return on equity of 15.98% and a net margin of 2.96%. ArcBest’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.54 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that ArcBest Co. will post 7.21 EPS for the current year.

ArcBest Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 13th were given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 13th. ArcBest’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.66%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ARCB has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on ArcBest from $150.00 to $131.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of ArcBest from $102.00 to $99.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of ArcBest from $180.00 to $176.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 8th. StockNews.com raised shares of ArcBest from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of ArcBest from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $122.00 to $112.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.18.

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.