ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) Short Interest Update

ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,160,000 shares, a drop of 20.0% from the April 30th total of 1,450,000 shares. Approximately 5.2% of the company's stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 418,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.8 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other ArcBest news, CFO John Matthew Beasley acquired 700 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $74.89 per share, with a total value of $52,423.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now directly owns 8,142 shares in the company, valued at $609,754.38. This trade represents a 9.41% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.28% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ArcBest

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARCB. Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of ArcBest by 342.5% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 43,134 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $4,678,000 after buying an additional 33,386 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in ArcBest by 146.3% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 298 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of ArcBest by 34.9% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,148 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $107,000 after purchasing an additional 297 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of ArcBest during the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Meritage Portfolio Management grew its position in ArcBest by 12.4% in the fourth quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management now owns 4,138 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $386,000 after buying an additional 458 shares during the last quarter. 99.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ArcBest Stock Performance

ARCB stock traded down $0.52 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $63.80. 136,843 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 308,352. ArcBest has a 1-year low of $55.19 and a 1-year high of $129.83. The firm has a market cap of $1.46 billion, a PE ratio of 8.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.70. The company's fifty day moving average price is $63.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $83.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The transportation company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.52 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $967.08 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $990.03 million. ArcBest had a net margin of 4.16% and a return on equity of 11.79%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.34 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that ArcBest will post 7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ArcBest Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, May 9th were paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 9th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. ArcBest's dividend payout ratio is presently 6.35%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on ARCB. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of ArcBest from $83.00 to $66.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on ArcBest from $80.00 to $60.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Stephens reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $116.00 price target on shares of ArcBest in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on ArcBest from $102.00 to $83.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised ArcBest from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $84.00 to $101.00 in a research report on Monday. One 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $89.67.

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.