Meritage Portfolio Management Increases Holdings in ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB)

Meritage Portfolio Management increased its stake in shares of ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) by 9.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,680 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 312 shares during the period. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in ArcBest were worth $399,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quarry LP lifted its holdings in shares of ArcBest by 120.7% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 245 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in ArcBest in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in ArcBest in the 2nd quarter valued at $36,000. Cultivar Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of ArcBest during the 2nd quarter valued at $43,000. Finally, Mather Group LLC. bought a new position in shares of ArcBest in the second quarter worth $46,000. Institutional investors own 99.27% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ARCB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group cut their price objective on ArcBest from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of ArcBest from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Bank of America dropped their price target on ArcBest from $102.00 to $99.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. TD Cowen cut ArcBest from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $131.00 to $114.00 in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on ArcBest from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ArcBest has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.17.

Insider Activity at ArcBest

In other ArcBest news, SVP Michael E. Newcity sold 10,443 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.60, for a total value of $1,259,425.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 5,051 shares in the company, valued at approximately $609,150.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.65% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

ArcBest Price Performance

Shares of ArcBest stock opened at $121.90 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $105.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $108.83. ArcBest Co. has a 12-month low of $94.76 and a 12-month high of $153.60. The firm has a market cap of $2.85 billion, a PE ratio of 15.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 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.

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The transportation company reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.84 by ($0.20). ArcBest had a net margin of 4.54% and a return on equity of 14.27%. The business had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.31 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that ArcBest Co. will post 6.19 EPS for the current year.

ArcBest Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be paid a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 13th. ArcBest’s payout ratio is 5.93%.

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.