BlueCrest Capital Management Ltd Takes Position in ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB)

BlueCrest Capital Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 21,200 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,959,000. BlueCrest Capital Management Ltd owned approximately 0.09% of ArcBest as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in ArcBest in the first quarter valued at approximately $343,000. Lido Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in ArcBest in the first quarter valued at approximately $418,000. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in ArcBest in the first quarter valued at approximately $211,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its stake in shares of ArcBest by 75.5% during the first quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 27,200 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,514,000 after buying an additional 11,700 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP acquired a new stake in shares of ArcBest during the first quarter worth $3,003,000. 95.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on ARCB. Credit Suisse Group downgraded shares of ArcBest from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $104.00 to $127.00 in a research note on Monday, July 31st. 22nd Century Group reiterated a “maintains” rating on shares of ArcBest in a research note on Friday, June 30th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of ArcBest from $125.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 1st. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of ArcBest in a research note on Monday, June 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $110.00 price objective for the company. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of ArcBest from $105.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, ArcBest currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $125.44.

ArcBest Stock Up 0.8 %

ARCB opened at $97.98 on Tuesday. ArcBest Co. has a fifty-two week low of $68.00 and a fifty-two week high of $122.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35. The company has a fifty day moving average of $106.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $96.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.36 and a beta of 1.58.

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 28th. The transportation company reported $1.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by ($0.50). ArcBest had a net margin of 4.95% and a return on equity of 20.06%. The firm had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.11 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.30 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 16.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that ArcBest Co. will post 6.49 earnings per share for the current year.

ArcBest Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 9th were issued a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 8th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. ArcBest’s payout ratio is 5.07%.

Insider Buying and Selling at ArcBest

In other news, SVP Michael E. Newcity sold 11,913 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.51, for a total transaction of $1,399,896.63. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 24,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,910,370.17. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Michael E. Newcity sold 11,913 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.51, for a total transaction of $1,399,896.63. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 24,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,910,370.17. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Seth Runser sold 5,466 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.07, for a total transaction of $628,972.62. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 18,534 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,132,707.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 51,922 shares of company stock valued at $5,778,701. Corporate insiders own 1.65% of the company’s stock.

ArcBest Profile

ArcBest Corporation provides freight transportation and integrated logistics services. It operates through three segments: Asset-Based, ArcBest, and FleetNet. The Asset-Based segment transports general commodities, such as food, textiles, apparel, furniture, appliances, chemicals, nonbulk petroleum products, rubber, plastics, metal and metal products, wood, glass, automotive parts, machinery, and miscellaneous manufactured products through less-than-truckload services.