ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) Shares Sold by Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) by 3.2% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 15,235 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 500 shares during the period. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in ArcBest were worth $1,652,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in ArcBest by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,509 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $272,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its stake in shares of ArcBest by 0.9% in the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 11,800 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,264,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of ArcBest by 4.0% during the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,225 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $350,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of ArcBest by 6.5% in the 2nd quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 2,095 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $224,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP boosted its holdings in ArcBest by 120.7% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 245 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.27% of the company’s stock.

ArcBest Price Performance

ArcBest stock opened at $108.39 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $106.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $108.65. ArcBest Co. has a 1 year low of $94.76 and a 1 year high of $153.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. The company has a market capitalization of $2.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.47.

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The transportation company reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.84 by ($0.20). ArcBest had a return on equity of 14.27% and a net margin of 4.54%. The business had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.31 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that ArcBest Co. will post 6.19 earnings per share for the current year.

ArcBest Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. ArcBest’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.93%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ARCB. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on ArcBest from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of ArcBest from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. StockNews.com raised shares of ArcBest from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of ArcBest from $131.00 to $119.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on ArcBest from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $124.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at ArcBest

In other ArcBest news, SVP Michael E. Newcity sold 10,443 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.60, for a total transaction of $1,259,425.80. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 5,051 shares in the company, valued at $609,150.60. This represents a 67.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.65% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.