ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.82 EPS

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday. The transportation company reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.82, MarketWatch Earnings reports. ArcBest had a net margin of 4.95% and a return on equity of 20.06%. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.80 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year.

ArcBest Stock Up 16.2 %

ARCB stock opened at $102.26 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $100.69 and a 200 day moving average of $97.51. The firm has a market cap of $2.46 billion, a PE ratio of 13.86 and a beta of 1.57. ArcBest has a twelve month low of $68.00 and a twelve month high of $122.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

ArcBest Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 7th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. ArcBest’s payout ratio is 6.50%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO John Matthew Beasley purchased 1,000 shares of ArcBest stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 14th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $104.98 per share, for a total transaction of $104,980.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now directly owns 5,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $566,052.16. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other ArcBest news, CFO John Matthew Beasley acquired 1,000 shares of ArcBest stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 14th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $104.98 per share, for a total transaction of $104,980.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 5,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $566,052.16. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Craig E. Philip sold 3,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.22, for a total transaction of $378,214.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 31,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,179,042. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 51,922 shares of company stock valued at $5,778,701. 1.65% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ArcBest

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of ArcBest by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,714,834 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $218,544,000 after buying an additional 55,946 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of ArcBest by 6.3% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,067,783 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $85,957,000 after purchasing an additional 63,476 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of ArcBest by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 568,392 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $39,810,000 after purchasing an additional 12,534 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of ArcBest by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 516,478 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $47,733,000 after buying an additional 2,885 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of ArcBest by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 365,556 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $25,604,000 after buying an additional 14,628 shares in the last quarter. 95.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ARCB. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of ArcBest from $134.00 to $132.00 in a report on Thursday, October 5th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of ArcBest in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on ArcBest from $105.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on ArcBest from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 31st. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on ArcBest from $110.00 to $108.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $122.80.

ArcBest Company Profile

ArcBest Corporation provides freight transportation and integrated logistics services. It operates through three segments: Asset-Based, ArcBest, and FleetNet. The Asset-Based segment transports general commodities, such as food, textiles, apparel, furniture, appliances, chemicals, nonbulk petroleum products, rubber, plastics, metal and metal products, wood, glass, automotive parts, machinery, and miscellaneous manufactured products through less-than-truckload services.