Ameriprise Financial Inc. Reduces Holdings in ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. decreased its position in ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) by 3.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 204,635 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 8,124 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc.’s holdings in ArcBest were worth $19,097,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ARCB. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in ArcBest by 342.5% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 43,134 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $4,678,000 after buying an additional 33,386 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in ArcBest by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 232,627 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $21,709,000 after buying an additional 13,152 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its holdings in ArcBest by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 4,429 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $419,000 after buying an additional 306 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its position in shares of ArcBest by 41.5% during the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 3,190 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $298,000 after purchasing an additional 935 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of ArcBest during the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,826,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.27% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO John Matthew Beasley acquired 700 shares of ArcBest stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $74.89 per share, for a total transaction of $52,423.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 8,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $609,754.38. This trade represents a 9.41% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ARCB. Bank of America lowered their price objective 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. StockNews.com raised shares of ArcBest from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of ArcBest from $102.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of ArcBest from $97.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of ArcBest from $83.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, ArcBest currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $88.75.

ArcBest Price Performance

ArcBest stock opened at $67.79 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.55 billion, a PE ratio of 9.25, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The company’s 50 day moving average is $65.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $87.57.

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The transportation company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $967.08 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $990.03 million. ArcBest had a return on equity of 11.79% and a net margin of 4.16%. ArcBest’s quarterly revenue was down 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.34 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that ArcBest Co. will post 7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ArcBest Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 9th will be issued a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 9th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. ArcBest’s payout ratio is 6.35%.

ArcBest 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.