ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.22 EPS

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday. The transportation company reported $1.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.22, RTT News reports. ArcBest had a net margin of 4.54% and a return on equity of 14.27%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.47 EPS.

ArcBest Trading Down 1.3 %

ArcBest stock traded down $1.24 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $93.28. 225,933 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 243,130. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.18 billion, a PE ratio of 11.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $101.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $106.03. ArcBest has a 52 week low of $91.01 and a 52 week high of $153.60.

ArcBest Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 11th. ArcBest’s payout ratio is 5.93%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other ArcBest news, SVP Michael E. Newcity sold 10,443 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were 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 directly owns 5,051 shares in the company, valued at approximately $609,150.60. This trade represents a 67.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Craig E. Philip sold 3,900 shares of ArcBest stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.91, for a total transaction of $428,649.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 23,250 shares in the company, valued at $2,555,407.50. This trade represents a 14.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ARCB has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of ArcBest from $110.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of ArcBest from $109.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wolfe Research lowered shares of ArcBest from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of ArcBest from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of ArcBest from $130.00 to $117.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $122.91.

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.