ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) Short Interest Up 7.6% in March

ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,420,000 shares, an increase of 7.6% from the March 15th total of 1,320,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 294,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.8 days. Approximately 6.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Insider Activity at ArcBest

In related news, insider Erin K. Gattis sold 2,000 shares of ArcBest stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.58, for a total transaction of $283,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 32,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,565,530.26. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ArcBest

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of ArcBest by 49.3% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 227 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in ArcBest by 70.9% in the first quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 188 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in ArcBest by 15,450.0% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 311 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in ArcBest in the second quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in ArcBest in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. 99.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ArcBest Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of ArcBest stock traded down $0.34 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $149.61. 117,324 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 298,961. The company has a 50 day moving average of $140.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $122.93. ArcBest has a fifty-two week low of $82.18 and a fifty-two week high of $153.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a market cap of $3.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.96, a P/E/G ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 1.49.

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The transportation company reported $2.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.22 by $0.25. ArcBest had a net margin of 4.41% and a return on equity of 15.91%. The company had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.45 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that ArcBest will post 10.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ArcBest Announces Dividend

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 $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.32%. ArcBest’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.07%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on ArcBest from $168.00 to $164.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. UBS Group lifted their price target on ArcBest from $119.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on ArcBest from $153.00 to $159.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. StockNews.com upgraded ArcBest from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on ArcBest in a report on Monday, January 29th. They set a “buy” rating and a $148.00 price target on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $151.54.

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.