Alliancebernstein L.P. Increases Stake in ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB)

Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its position in ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) by 9.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,571,917 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 220,325 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned approximately 10.99% of ArcBest worth $240,011,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ARCB. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in ArcBest by 146.3% in the fourth 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 acquired a new stake in shares of ArcBest in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of ArcBest by 471.9% in 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 in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its position in ArcBest by 34.9% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,148 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $107,000 after acquiring an additional 297 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp acquired a new stake in ArcBest in the fourth quarter valued at $206,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.27% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on ARCB shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of ArcBest from $96.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of ArcBest from $103.00 to $83.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $116.00 price target on shares of ArcBest in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Truist Financial began coverage on ArcBest in a report on Thursday, March 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $93.00 price objective for the company. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on ArcBest from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $107.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO John Matthew Beasley purchased 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $74.89 per share, for a total transaction of $52,423.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 8,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $609,754.38. The trade was a 9.41 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.28% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

ArcBest Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of ArcBest stock opened at $70.58 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.63 billion, a PE ratio of 9.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.54. The business’s fifty day moving average is $84.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $97.68. ArcBest Co. has a fifty-two week low of $68.83 and a fifty-two week high of $153.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The transportation company reported $1.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.22. ArcBest had a return on equity of 11.79% and a net margin of 4.16%. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.47 EPS. Analysts anticipate that ArcBest Co. will post 7 earnings per share for the current year.

ArcBest Dividend Announcement

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. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. ArcBest’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.