ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) Shares Acquired by Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC lifted its stake in shares of ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) by 4.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 257,060 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 10,390 shares during the quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC owned about 1.10% of ArcBest worth $23,989,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ARCB. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in ArcBest by 146.3% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 298 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in ArcBest in the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of ArcBest by 471.9% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 549 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 453 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in shares of ArcBest by 34.9% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,148 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $107,000 after buying an additional 297 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp acquired a new position in shares of ArcBest in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $206,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.27% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on ARCB. UBS Group lowered their price target on ArcBest from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of ArcBest from $96.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of ArcBest from $100.00 to $73.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of ArcBest from $126.00 to $108.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of ArcBest in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $93.00 price objective on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $107.00.

ArcBest Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ARCB opened at $63.63 on Friday. ArcBest Co. has a 12-month low of $57.80 and a 12-month high of $153.61. The company has a market cap of $1.47 billion, a PE ratio of 8.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.55. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $81.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $96.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) last announced 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 quarter last year, the firm posted $2.47 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that ArcBest Co. will post 7 EPS for the current year.

ArcBest Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid 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 0.75%. ArcBest’s payout ratio is 6.55%.

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.