Intech Investment Management LLC Acquires 8,727 Shares of ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB)

Intech Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) by 81.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,480 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,727 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.08% of ArcBest worth $1,818,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Cibc World Markets Corp bought a new stake in shares of ArcBest in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $206,000. Royce & Associates LP lifted its position in shares of ArcBest by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 85,185 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $7,949,000 after acquiring an additional 7,602 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in shares of ArcBest by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 46,500 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $4,339,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of ArcBest by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,557 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $425,000 after purchasing an additional 315 shares during the period. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System increased its position in shares of ArcBest by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 6,856 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $640,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.27% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on ARCB. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $116.00 target price on shares of ArcBest in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of ArcBest from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on ArcBest from $109.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on ArcBest from $105.00 to $96.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on ArcBest from $160.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $108.33.

ArcBest Stock Performance

ArcBest stock opened at $71.80 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $88.24 and a 200-day moving average of $99.11. The company has a market capitalization of $1.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.54. ArcBest Co. has a 1 year low of $70.53 and a 1 year high of $153.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.04.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.22. ArcBest had a net margin of 4.16% and a return on equity of 11.79%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.47 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. ArcBest’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.55%.

Insider Transactions at ArcBest

In other news, CFO John Matthew Beasley purchased 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $609,754.38. This trade represents a 9.41 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.65% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About ArcBest

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.