Quantbot Technologies LP Grows Holdings in ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB)

Quantbot Technologies LP increased its position in ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) by 38.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 16,590 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 4,648 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP owned about 0.07% of ArcBest worth $1,548,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its stake 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. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its position in ArcBest by 81.2% during the fourth quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 19,480 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,818,000 after buying an additional 8,727 shares during the period. Cibc World Markets Corp purchased a new position in ArcBest during the fourth quarter worth about $206,000. Royce & Associates LP grew its holdings in ArcBest by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 85,185 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $7,949,000 after buying an additional 7,602 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of ArcBest by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 46,500 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $4,339,000 after acquiring an additional 700 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.27% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on ARCB. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of ArcBest from $109.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of ArcBest from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on ArcBest from $126.00 to $108.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of ArcBest from $105.00 to $96.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of ArcBest from $100.00 to $73.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $108.33.

ArcBest Trading Up 3.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ ARCB opened at $74.47 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $1.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.54. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $87.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $98.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. ArcBest Co. has a 12-month low of $68.83 and a 12-month high of $153.61.

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The transportation company reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.22. ArcBest had a net margin of 4.16% and a return on equity of 11.79%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.47 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that ArcBest Co. will post 7 EPS for the current year.

ArcBest Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. ArcBest’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.55%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO John Matthew Beasley purchased 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $74.89 per share, with a total value of $52,423.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 8,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $609,754.38. This represents a 9.41 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.65% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.