Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc. (NYSE:ARCO) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc. (NYSE:ARCO) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,140,000 shares, a drop of 5.7% from the March 15th total of 3,330,000 shares. Currently, 2.5% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,080,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.9 days.

Arcos Dorados Trading Down 2.6 %

ARCO traded down $0.28 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $10.62. 1,303,483 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,375,854. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $11.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.28. The firm has a market cap of $2.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.49, a P/E/G ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.26. Arcos Dorados has a 1 year low of $7.77 and a 1 year high of $13.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.72.

Arcos Dorados (NYSE:ARCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 13th. The restaurant operator reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Arcos Dorados had a return on equity of 43.72% and a net margin of 4.18%. The business had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter. As a group, equities analysts expect that Arcos Dorados will post 0.95 EPS for the current year.

Arcos Dorados Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 23rd will be issued a $0.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 23rd. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.26%. Arcos Dorados’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.24%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ARCO. Perpetual Ltd acquired a new position in Arcos Dorados during the 1st quarter valued at about $49,647,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Arcos Dorados by 170.4% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,582,997 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $43,355,000 after buying an additional 2,888,357 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd increased its position in Arcos Dorados by 56.5% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 7,801,467 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $99,001,000 after buying an additional 2,817,276 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Arcos Dorados by 12.5% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 21,962,867 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $178,559,000 after purchasing an additional 2,435,111 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fourth Sail Capital LP purchased a new stake in Arcos Dorados during the 4th quarter valued at about $22,192,000. 55.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com lowered Arcos Dorados from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Arcos Dorados currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $13.38.

Arcos Dorados Company Profile

Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc operates as a franchisee of McDonald's restaurants. It has the exclusive right to own, operate, and grant franchises of McDonald's restaurants in 20 countries and territories in Latin America and the Caribbean, including Argentina, Aruba, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Curacao, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, the U.S.