Strs Ohio Reduces Position in ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB)

Strs Ohio cut its position in shares of ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) by 7.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 9,300 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 800 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio’s holdings in ArcBest were worth $1,117,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of ArcBest during the 4th quarter worth about $1,418,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in ArcBest during the 4th quarter valued at about $448,000. Wakefield Asset Management LLLP bought a new stake in ArcBest during the 4th quarter valued at about $806,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in ArcBest by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 11,263 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,354,000 after buying an additional 511 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Preferred LLC bought a new stake in ArcBest during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,227,000. 99.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on ARCB shares. TD Cowen lifted 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on shares of ArcBest in a report on Monday, January 29th. They set a “buy” rating and a $148.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted 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. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of ArcBest from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of ArcBest from $141.00 to $143.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $151.54.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other ArcBest news, insider Erin K. Gattis sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now owns 32,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,565,530.26. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

ArcBest Trading Up 4.6 %

NASDAQ ARCB opened at $145.95 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a market cap of $3.43 billion, a PE ratio of 18.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $140.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $124.72. ArcBest Co. has a 52 week low of $82.18 and a 52 week high of $153.60.

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

ArcBest Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 16th were given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. ArcBest’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.07%.

ArcBest Company Profile

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.