Nuveen LLC Takes $18.46 Million Position in ArcBest Corporation $ARCB

Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ArcBest Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCB) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 261,549 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,460,000. Nuveen LLC owned about 1.14% of ArcBest as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ARCB. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of ArcBest by 36.7% during the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 869,267 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $61,353,000 after acquiring an additional 233,409 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. bought a new position in ArcBest in the 1st quarter worth approximately $9,202,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of ArcBest by 20,035.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 101,282 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $71,480,000 after buying an additional 100,779 shares during the last quarter. Eisler Capital Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of ArcBest in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $7,695,000. Finally, Hudson Bay Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of ArcBest in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,706,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.27% of the company’s stock.

ArcBest Stock Performance

ArcBest stock opened at $73.20 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $76.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $73.01. ArcBest Corporation has a 52-week low of $55.19 and a 52-week high of $123.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.89, a P/E/G ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.69.

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The transportation company reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.48 by ($0.12). ArcBest had a return on equity of 8.67% and a net margin of 3.90%.The company had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.98 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that ArcBest Corporation will post 7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ArcBest Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 8th. ArcBest’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.14%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ARCB shares. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on ArcBest from $93.00 to $81.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen raised ArcBest from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Zacks Research raised ArcBest to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded ArcBest from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $84.00 to $101.00 in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on ArcBest from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.00.

About ArcBest

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.