ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) Trading Down 12.6% on Analyst Downgrade

ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) fell 12.6% on Thursday after The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on the stock from $108.00 to $97.00. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. ArcBest traded as low as $62.16 and last traded at $62.73. 363,134 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 21% from the average session volume of 299,136 shares. The stock had previously closed at $71.76.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on ARCB. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on ArcBest from $160.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus upped 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. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of ArcBest from $120.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of ArcBest from $96.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of ArcBest from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $101.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO John Matthew Beasley purchased 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $74.89 per share, for a total transaction of $52,423.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 8,142 shares in the company, valued at approximately $609,754.38. The trade was a 9.41 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ArcBest

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ARCB. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in ArcBest by 146.3% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 298 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in shares of ArcBest during the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of ArcBest by 471.9% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 549 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 453 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 297 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Curat Global LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ArcBest in the 1st quarter worth about $82,000. 99.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ArcBest Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $1.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.50, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The company’s 50-day moving average is $77.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $94.45.

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The transportation company reported $1.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 last year, the business posted $2.47 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that ArcBest Co. will post 7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ArcBest Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. ArcBest’s payout ratio is presently 6.55%.

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.