First Trust Advisors LP Boosts Stake in ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB)

First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB - Free Report) by 31.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 29,086 shares of the transportation company's stock after acquiring an additional 6,985 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.12% of ArcBest worth $2,714,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ARCB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in ArcBest by 24.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 221,507 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $24,022,000 after purchasing an additional 43,707 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its position 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 during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of ArcBest by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 232,627 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $21,709,000 after acquiring an additional 13,152 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its position in ArcBest by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 4,429 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $419,000 after acquiring an additional 306 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its stake in ArcBest by 41.5% in the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 3,190 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $298,000 after acquiring an additional 935 shares in the last quarter. 99.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Bank of America decreased their price objective on ArcBest from $100.00 to $73.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of ArcBest from $80.00 to $72.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Stephens reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $116.00 price objective on shares of ArcBest in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of ArcBest from $93.00 to $90.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $88.75.

ArcBest Stock Up 7.3 %

Shares of ARCB opened at $62.01 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.46, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.70. ArcBest Co. has a 52 week low of $55.19 and a 52 week high of $129.83. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $68.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $89.76. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The transportation company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.52 by ($0.01). ArcBest had a return on equity of 11.79% and a net margin of 4.16%. The firm had revenue of $967.08 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $990.03 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.34 EPS. ArcBest's revenue for the quarter was down 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that ArcBest Co. will post 7 EPS for the current year.

ArcBest Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 9th. ArcBest's payout ratio is currently 6.35%.

Insider Activity at ArcBest

In other ArcBest news, CFO John Matthew Beasley acquired 700 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $74.89 per share, with a total value of $52,423.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 8,142 shares in the company, valued at approximately $609,754.38. This trade represents a 9.41 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.28% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding ARCB? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.