Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Acquires 150,467 Shares of ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB)

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its holdings in ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) by 34.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 583,762 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 150,467 shares during the quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. owned about 2.49% of ArcBest worth $62,509,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in shares of ArcBest by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 24,703 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,970,000 after purchasing an additional 1,737 shares during the period. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its stake in shares of ArcBest by 51.9% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 597 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $72,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of ArcBest in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $9,298,000. Trexquant Investment LP bought a new position in ArcBest during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,054,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in ArcBest by 26.0% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,772 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $934,000 after purchasing an additional 1,602 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.27% of the company’s stock.

ArcBest Stock Performance

Shares of ARCB stock opened at $109.85 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.57 billion, a PE ratio of 22.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.46. ArcBest Co. has a 12 month low of $86.93 and a 12 month high of $153.60. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $109.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $117.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The transportation company reported $1.98 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.06 billion. ArcBest had a return on equity of 15.98% and a net margin of 2.96%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.54 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that ArcBest Co. will post 7.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ArcBest Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 13th were given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 13th. ArcBest’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.66%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on ARCB. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of ArcBest from $150.00 to $131.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of ArcBest in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on ArcBest from $180.00 to $176.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 8th. StockNews.com upgraded ArcBest from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut ArcBest from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $122.00 to $112.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ArcBest has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.18.

Insider Transactions at ArcBest

In other news, Director Salvatore A. Abbate bought 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $103.93 per share, for a total transaction of $103,930.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 3,650 shares in the company, valued at $379,344.50. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 1.65% of the company’s stock.

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.