ArcBest Co. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.12 (NASDAQ:ARCB)

ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, April 26th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be given a dividend of 0.12 per share by the transportation company on Friday, May 24th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th.

ArcBest has increased its dividend payment by an average of 14.5% per year over the last three years. ArcBest has a payout ratio of 3.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect ArcBest to earn $11.31 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.48 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 4.2%.

ArcBest Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ ARCB traded up $0.75 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $118.74. 56,431 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 316,407. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.23. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $137.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $126.16. The company has a market cap of $2.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.74, a PEG ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 1.56. ArcBest has a 52 week low of $82.18 and a 52 week high of $153.60.

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 15.27% and a net margin of 2.80%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.58 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that ArcBest will post 9 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at ArcBest

In related news, insider Erin K. Gattis sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.58, for a total value of $283,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 32,247 shares in the company, valued at $4,565,530.26. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 1.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of ArcBest in a research report on Monday, January 29th. They set a “buy” rating and a $148.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on ArcBest from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Bank of America decreased their target price on ArcBest from $143.00 to $110.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. UBS Group dropped their price target on ArcBest from $150.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Stephens lifted their price objective on shares of ArcBest from $165.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, ArcBest currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $143.38.

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.