ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) Sees Strong Trading Volume – Here’s Why

ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) shares saw unusually-high trading volume on Wednesday . Approximately 356,620 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 26% from the previous session’s volume of 283,671 shares.The stock last traded at $120.31 and had previously closed at $104.10.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on ARCB shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of ArcBest from $130.00 to $117.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of ArcBest from $131.00 to $119.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 21st. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of ArcBest from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. TD Cowen lowered shares of ArcBest from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $131.00 to $114.00 in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of ArcBest in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. One investment 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $123.17.

ArcBest Trading Up 16.1 %

The firm has a market cap of $2.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.96, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $104.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $109.45.

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 1st. The transportation company reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.84 by ($0.20). ArcBest had a return on equity of 14.27% and a net margin of 4.54%. The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.31 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that ArcBest Co. will post 6.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ArcBest Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 13th. ArcBest’s dividend payout ratio is currently 5.93%.

Insider Buying and Selling at ArcBest

In other ArcBest news, Director Salvatore A. Abbate bought 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 12th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $103.93 per share, for a total transaction of $103,930.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 3,650 shares in the company, valued at $379,344.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of ArcBest

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ARCB. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of ArcBest by 34.7% in the 2nd quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 583,762 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $62,509,000 after buying an additional 150,467 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in ArcBest by 4.0% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 525,471 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $56,267,000 after buying an additional 20,115 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in ArcBest by 158.7% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 191,987 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $20,558,000 after purchasing an additional 117,774 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in ArcBest by 0.8% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 150,742 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $16,141,000 after purchasing an additional 1,214 shares during the period. Finally, FAS Wealth Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of ArcBest by 86.3% in the second quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 80,050 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $8,572,000 after acquiring an additional 37,073 shares during the last quarter. 99.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ArcBest Company 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.