ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) Shares Gap Down After Analyst Downgrade

Shares of ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) gapped down before the market opened on Tuesday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded the stock from an overweight rating to a neutral rating. The stock had previously closed at $108.41, but opened at $104.54. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now has a $127.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $145.00. ArcBest shares last traded at $104.94, with a volume of 36,752 shares.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. StockNews.com cut ArcBest from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of ArcBest from $177.00 to $148.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of ArcBest from $150.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of ArcBest from $143.00 to $110.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of ArcBest from $133.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, ArcBest currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $143.69.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Jump Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of ArcBest during the fourth quarter worth approximately $811,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in ArcBest in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $9,298,000. Wakefield Asset Management LLLP bought a new position in ArcBest in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $806,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in ArcBest by 20.5% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 154,972 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $18,629,000 after acquiring an additional 26,411 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in ArcBest by 10.5% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 378,206 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $38,445,000 after acquiring an additional 35,968 shares during the last quarter. 99.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

ArcBest Price Performance

The business’s 50 day moving average is $108.85 and its 200-day moving average is $124.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.57, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The transportation company reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by ($0.19). The firm had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. ArcBest had a net margin of 2.80% and a return on equity of 15.27%. The business’s revenue was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.58 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that ArcBest Co. will post 8.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ArcBest Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th were paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. ArcBest’s payout ratio is presently 9.66%.

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.