ARKO (NASDAQ:ARKO) Cut to “Strong Sell” at Zacks Research

ARKO (NASDAQ:ARKO) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday, Zacks reports.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on ARKO. Raymond James Financial cut shares of ARKO from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $8.00 to $7.00 in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Mizuho set a $22.00 target price on ARKO in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded ARKO from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, ARKO presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $14.50.

ARKO Stock Up 1.0%

ARKO stock opened at $4.24 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $4.19 and its 200 day moving average is $5.94. The stock has a market cap of $475.64 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 84.82 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. ARKO has a 1-year low of $3.61 and a 1-year high of $8.76.

ARKO (NASDAQ:ARKO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.12 by ($0.04). ARKO had a net margin of 0.14% and a return on equity of 2.87%. The company had revenue of $2.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.02 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that ARKO will post 0.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ARKO

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARKO. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in ARKO in the 2nd quarter worth $45,154,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of ARKO during the first quarter worth about $8,220,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of ARKO during the second quarter worth about $6,145,000. Ancora Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of ARKO in the second quarter worth about $5,781,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC bought a new stake in shares of ARKO in the second quarter worth about $4,671,000. 78.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About ARKO

ARKO Corp. (NASDAQ: ARKO) is a convenience store and fuel retail operator in the United States. Through its subsidiary GPM Investments, the company operates convenience stores that sell gasoline, diesel fuel, food, beverages, tobacco products, and other everyday consumer goods. Many locations also offer prepared food, loyalty programs, and additional retail services. ARKO operates stores under a variety of regional and national banners, including fas mart, E-Z Mart, Scotchman, Young’s, Li’l Cricket, BreadBox, and others.