ARKO (NASDAQ:ARKO) Stock Price Up 3.1% – What’s Next?

ARKO Corp. (NASDAQ:ARKO) rose 3.1% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $8.14 and last traded at $8.09. Approximately 605,138 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 38% from the average session volume of 969,968 shares. The stock had previously closed at $7.85.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on ARKO. Wall Street Zen lowered ARKO from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 30th. Zacks Research raised ARKO from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of ARKO from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $8.00.

ARKO Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $907.62 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.58 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.93. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $7.51 and a 200-day moving average of $6.26.

ARKO (NASDAQ:ARKO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.07) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.16) by $0.09. The company had revenue of $1.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. ARKO had a net margin of 0.38% and a return on equity of 9.10%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.12) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that ARKO Corp. will post 0.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ARKO Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th were paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 18th. ARKO’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.16%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, General Counsel Maury Bricks sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.50, for a total value of $85,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 162,841 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,384,148.50. The trade was a 5.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 22.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of ARKO

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of ARKO by 63.1% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 117,544 shares of the company’s stock valued at $464,000 after purchasing an additional 45,478 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in ARKO by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 47,838 shares of the company’s stock worth $189,000 after buying an additional 2,028 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in ARKO by 37.0% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 762,864 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,013,000 after buying an additional 206,061 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in ARKO during the first quarter worth approximately $1,335,000. Finally, Creative Planning increased its position in ARKO by 37.9% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 15,156 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 4,163 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.29% of the company’s stock.

ARKO Company Profile

ARKO Corp (NASDAQ: ARKO) is a downstream energy and convenience retail company based in Matthews, North Carolina. The company’s core operations encompass fuel supply, distribution and retailing through a network of terminals, independent dealer locations and company-operated convenience stores. ARKO’s fuel offerings include branded and unbranded gasoline and diesel, as well as lubricants and other petroleum products marketed under various regional and private labels.

In its retail segment, ARKO operates a portfolio of convenience stores under the Kangaroo Express banner, serving on-site customers with fuel, grab-and-go food items, beverages and everyday household essentials.