ARKO (NASDAQ:ARKO) Shares Down 4.1% – Here’s Why

ARKO Corp. (NASDAQ:ARKO) shares were down 4.1% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $4.49 and last traded at $4.48. Approximately 137,472 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 832,155 shares. The stock had previously closed at $4.67.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on ARKO. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of ARKO from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 30th. Mizuho set a $22.00 target price on shares of ARKO in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Weiss Ratings upgraded ARKO from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Raymond James Financial cut ARKO from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $8.00 to $7.00 in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded ARKO from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $14.50.

ARKO Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $6.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $6.62. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.82. The company has a market cap of $490.27 million, a P/E ratio of 62.43 and a beta of 1.00.

ARKO (NASDAQ:ARKO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 7th. The company reported $0.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.11). ARKO had a return on equity of 4.02% and a net margin of 0.19%.The firm had revenue of $2.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.99 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that ARKO Corp. will post 0.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ARKO Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. ARKO’s dividend payout ratio is 171.43%.

Insider Transactions at ARKO

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 transaction of $85,000.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 162,841 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 21.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of ARKO

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ARKO. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of ARKO during the 2nd quarter worth about $45,154,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of ARKO by 0.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,795,048 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,343,000 after buying an additional 22,532 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of ARKO by 7.3% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,021,751 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,800,000 after buying an additional 206,716 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in ARKO by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,903,496 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,644,000 after buying an additional 7,735 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new position in ARKO during the first quarter valued at about $8,220,000. 78.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About ARKO

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.