Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Acquires 21,905 Shares of ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) by 5.6% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 414,261 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,905 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in ArcBest were worth $44,927,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its stake 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 valued at $62,509,000 after purchasing an additional 150,467 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in shares of ArcBest by 158.7% during 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. Emerald Advisers LLC bought a new position in ArcBest during the 2nd quarter valued at about $6,812,000. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC boosted its position in ArcBest by 1,455.0% in the second quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 63,399 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $6,789,000 after buying an additional 59,322 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust bought a new stake in ArcBest during the second quarter worth about $5,630,000. Institutional investors own 99.27% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at ArcBest

In related news, Director Craig E. Philip sold 3,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.91, for a total transaction of $428,649.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,555,407.50. This trade represents a 14.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Michael E. Newcity sold 10,443 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 5,051 shares in the company, valued at $609,150.60. The trade was a 67.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.65% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ARCB has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research downgraded ArcBest from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on ArcBest from $131.00 to $119.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on ArcBest from $130.00 to $117.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of ArcBest from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of ArcBest from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $124.50.

ArcBest Stock Performance

Shares of ARCB stock opened at $115.28 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $2.70 billion, a PE ratio of 14.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.47. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $107.49 and a 200-day moving average of $108.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. ArcBest Co. has a one year low of $94.76 and a one year high of $153.60.

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

ArcBest Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th were issued a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. ArcBest’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 5.93%.

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.