BNP Paribas Financial Markets Has $510,000 Stock Position in ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets reduced its stake in shares of ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB - Free Report) by 56.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,460 shares of the transportation company's stock after selling 7,061 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets' holdings in ArcBest were worth $510,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of ArcBest by 146.3% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 298 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the period. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in shares of ArcBest during the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of ArcBest by 471.9% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 549 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 453 shares during the period. KBC Group NV grew its position in shares of ArcBest by 34.9% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,148 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $107,000 after purchasing an additional 297 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp purchased a new position in shares of ArcBest during the fourth quarter valued at about $206,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.27% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ARCB. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on ArcBest from $120.00 to $95.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Citigroup reduced their price target on ArcBest from $83.00 to $66.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of ArcBest from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Stephens reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $116.00 price objective on shares of ArcBest in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of ArcBest from $100.00 to $64.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $88.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO John Matthew Beasley purchased 700 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $74.89 per share, for a total transaction of $52,423.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now directly owns 8,142 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $609,754.38. The trade was a 9.41% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.28% of the company's stock.

ArcBest Stock Up 5.6%

NASDAQ:ARCB traded up $3.43 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $64.20. The company had a trading volume of 410,114 shares, compared to its average volume of 308,146. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.76, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. ArcBest Co. has a 1 year low of $55.19 and a 1 year high of $129.83. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $64.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $85.13.

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

ArcBest Announces Dividend

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

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.