ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) Shares Gap Down to $149.25

ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB - Get Free Report) shares gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $149.25, but opened at $146.00. ArcBest shares last traded at $140.43, with a volume of 35,986 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ARCB. Bank of America upped their target price on ArcBest from $141.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on ArcBest in a report on Monday, January 29th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $148.00 price target for the company. Stephens boosted their price objective on ArcBest from $165.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on ArcBest from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of ArcBest from $168.00 to $164.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $151.54.

ArcBest Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $3.29 billion, a PE ratio of 17.70, a P/E/G ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.26. The firm's 50 day moving average is $140.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $122.93.

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The transportation company reported $2.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.22 by $0.25. ArcBest had a return on equity of 15.91% and a net margin of 4.41%. The business had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.09 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.45 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that ArcBest Co. will post 10.05 earnings per share for the current year.

ArcBest Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 16th were paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.34%. ArcBest's payout ratio is 6.07%.

Insider Activity at ArcBest

In other ArcBest news, insider Erin K. Gattis sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.58, for a total value of $283,160.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 32,247 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,565,530.26. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in ArcBest by 49.3% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 227 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of ArcBest by 70.9% during the 1st quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 188 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. BOKF NA boosted its holdings in shares of ArcBest by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. BOKF NA now owns 1,643 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $198,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of ArcBest by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. now owns 29,224 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $3,513,000 after buying an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SummerHaven Investment Management LLC raised its stake in ArcBest by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 7,572 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $910,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.27% of the company's stock.

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.