ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) Raised to “Buy” at The Goldman Sachs Group

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) was upgraded by equities researchers at The Goldman Sachs Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm presently has a $101.00 price target on the transportation company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $84.00. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price target suggests a potential upside of 57.03% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on ARCB. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of ArcBest from $58.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $116.00 price target on shares of ArcBest in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on ArcBest from $102.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on ArcBest from $120.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded ArcBest from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, ArcBest currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $89.67.

ArcBest Stock Up 3.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:ARCB opened at $64.32 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.01. ArcBest has a 52-week low of $55.19 and a 52-week high of $129.83. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $63.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $83.23. The firm has a market cap of $1.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.77, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.70.

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The transportation company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by ($0.01). ArcBest had a return on equity of 11.79% and a net margin of 4.16%. The firm had revenue of $967.08 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $990.03 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.34 earnings per share. ArcBest’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that ArcBest will post 7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other ArcBest news, CFO John Matthew Beasley purchased 700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 8,142 shares in the company, valued at approximately $609,754.38. This trade represents a 9.41% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of ArcBest by 342.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 43,134 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $4,678,000 after purchasing an additional 33,386 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in ArcBest by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 232,627 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $21,709,000 after buying an additional 13,152 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in ArcBest by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 4,429 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $419,000 after buying an additional 306 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its position in ArcBest by 41.5% during the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 3,190 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $298,000 after acquiring an additional 935 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of ArcBest during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,826,000. 99.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.