Caxton Associates LLP Purchases New Stake in ArcBest Corporation $ARCB

Key Points

• Caxton Associates LLP has made a new investment of $1.19 million in ArcBest Corporation, acquiring approximately 16,914 shares during the first quarter.
• Several institutional investors have increased their stakes in ArcBest, leading to a total of 99.27% ownership by such investors.
• ArcBest reported a quarterly earnings miss with an EPS of $1.36, falling short of the consensus estimate of $1.48, along with a revenue of $1.02 billion, down 5.1% year-over-year.

Caxton Associates LLP purchased a new position in ArcBest Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCB - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 16,914 shares of the transportation company's stock, valued at approximately $1,194,000. Caxton Associates LLP owned approximately 0.07% of ArcBest as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Signaturefd LLC raised its position in ArcBest by 477.6% in the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 387 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its stake in ArcBest by 338.8% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 452 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 349 shares during the last quarter. Curat Global LLC bought a new position in ArcBest in the first quarter valued at approximately $82,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of ArcBest by 185.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,435 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $101,000 after purchasing an additional 932 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of ArcBest during the first quarter worth $143,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.27% of the company's stock.

ArcBest Stock Down 4.1%

Shares of ARCB traded down $3.00 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $70.33. 197,172 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 254,381. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $75.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $70.82. ArcBest Corporation has a 52 week low of $55.19 and a 52 week high of $123.25. The company has a market cap of $1.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.47, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.69.

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The transportation company reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.48 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. ArcBest had a return on equity of 8.67% and a net margin of 3.90%.The business's revenue was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.98 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that ArcBest Corporation will post 7 EPS for the current year.

ArcBest Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, August 8th were paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 8th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. ArcBest's payout ratio is currently 7.14%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of ArcBest from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $84.00 to $101.00 in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Zacks Research raised ArcBest to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $85.00 price target (up previously from $75.00) on shares of ArcBest in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of ArcBest from $75.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of ArcBest from $83.00 to $79.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $89.17.

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.