Jefferies Financial Group Cuts ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) Price Target to $95.00

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) had its price target decreased by Jefferies Financial Group from $120.00 to $95.00 in a research note released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the transportation company’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on ARCB. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on ArcBest from $160.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on ArcBest from $96.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of ArcBest from $109.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of ArcBest from $126.00 to $108.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of ArcBest from $100.00 to $73.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. One 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $101.75.

ArcBest Stock Performance

Shares of ArcBest stock opened at $62.32 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.62. ArcBest has a 12 month low of $57.80 and a 12 month high of $151.54. 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 business’s fifty day simple moving average is $77.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $94.45.

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The transportation company reported $1.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm posted $2.47 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that ArcBest will post 7 EPS for the current year.

ArcBest Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at ArcBest

In other news, CFO John Matthew Beasley acquired 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $74.89 per share, for a total transaction of $52,423.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 8,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $609,754.38. This trade represents a 9.41 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.28% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of ArcBest

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of ArcBest by 9.4% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,571,917 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $240,011,000 after acquiring an additional 220,325 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of ArcBest by 47.2% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 326,006 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $30,423,000 after acquiring an additional 104,499 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in ArcBest by 20,035.6% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 101,282 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $71,480,000 after acquiring an additional 100,779 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in ArcBest by 16.3% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 618,919 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $57,758,000 after acquiring an additional 86,867 shares during the period. Finally, Eisler Capital Management Ltd. bought a new position in ArcBest during the 4th quarter worth approximately $7,695,000. Institutional investors own 99.27% of the company’s stock.

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.