Arizona State Retirement System Sells 104 Shares of ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB)

Arizona State Retirement System cut its holdings in shares of ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,716 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 104 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in ArcBest were worth $807,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bellecapital International Ltd. bought a new stake in ArcBest during the 4th quarter worth about $213,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of ArcBest by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC now owns 2,480 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $298,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Saxon Interests Inc. acquired a new position in shares of ArcBest during the 4th quarter worth about $220,000. PFG Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of ArcBest during the 4th quarter worth about $218,000. Finally, Legato Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of ArcBest by 11.6% during the 4th quarter. Legato Capital Management LLC now owns 10,185 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,224,000 after purchasing an additional 1,059 shares during the last quarter. 99.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at ArcBest

In other news, insider Erin K. Gattis sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.58, for a total transaction of $283,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 32,247 shares in the company, valued at $4,565,530.26. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

ArcBest Trading Down 6.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ ARCB opened at $140.00 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.26. ArcBest Co. has a 52-week low of $82.18 and a 52-week high of $153.60. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $140.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $123.38. The stock has a market cap of $3.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 1.49.

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The transportation company reported $2.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.22 by $0.25. ArcBest had a net margin of 4.41% and a return on equity of 15.91%. The firm had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.09 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.45 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that ArcBest Co. will post 10.05 EPS for the current year.

ArcBest Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 16th were given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. ArcBest’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.07%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on ARCB shares. Stephens upped their price target on shares of ArcBest from $165.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of ArcBest from $153.00 to $159.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of ArcBest from $141.00 to $178.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of ArcBest from $119.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of ArcBest from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $151.54.

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.