ArcBest Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCB) Announces $0.12 Quarterly Dividend

ArcBest Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCB) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.12 per share by the transportation company on Friday, November 28th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 14th.

ArcBest has raised its dividend payment by an average of 0.1%annually over the last three years. ArcBest has a dividend payout ratio of 6.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect ArcBest to earn $9.97 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 4.8%.

ArcBest Price Performance

NASDAQ:ARCB traded up $0.79 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $66.44. The stock had a trading volume of 63,838 shares, compared to its average volume of 354,566. ArcBest has a one year low of $55.19 and a one year high of $118.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $71.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $71.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.67.

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The transportation company reported $1.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. ArcBest had a net margin of 3.90% and a return on equity of 8.67%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.64 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that ArcBest will post 7 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ARCB shares. Zacks Research raised ArcBest to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of ArcBest in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of ArcBest from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Stephens lowered shares of ArcBest from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $72.00 price target for the company. in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of ArcBest from $80.00 to $74.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $85.67.

About ArcBest

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.