Russell Investments Group Ltd. Trims Stake in ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. cut its holdings in shares of ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) by 27.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 63,059 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 23,748 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in ArcBest were worth $5,885,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ARCB. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in ArcBest by 146.3% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 298 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the period. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in shares of ArcBest in the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position 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 worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 453 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its position in ArcBest by 34.9% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,148 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $107,000 after purchasing an additional 297 shares during the period. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp acquired a new position in ArcBest during the fourth quarter worth $206,000. 99.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at ArcBest

In related news, CFO John Matthew Beasley bought 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was 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 represents a 9.41 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on ArcBest from $96.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of ArcBest in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $93.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of ArcBest from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of ArcBest from $120.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of ArcBest from $100.00 to $73.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, ArcBest currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.75.

ArcBest Stock Down 1.7 %

ArcBest stock opened at $62.32 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.50, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $77.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $94.36. ArcBest Co. has a twelve month low of $57.80 and a twelve month high of $151.54.

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The transportation company reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.22. ArcBest had a net margin of 4.16% and a return on equity of 11.79%. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.47 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that ArcBest Co. will post 7 earnings per share for the current year.

ArcBest Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. ArcBest’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.55%.

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.