Ark Restaurants Corp. (NASDAQ:ARKR) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Ark Restaurants Corp. (NASDAQ:ARKR) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totaling 8,047 shares, an increase of 88.9% from the September 30th total of 4,259 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 7,977 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.0 days. Approximately 0.4% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Michael Lawrence Weinstein sold 176,701 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.57, for a total transaction of $807,523.57. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 856,111 shares in the company, valued at $3,912,427.27. This represents a 17.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 37.46% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ark Restaurants

A hedge fund recently bought a new stake in Ark Restaurants stock. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of Ark Restaurants Corp. (NASDAQ:ARKR) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 23,300 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $137,000. Empowered Funds LLC owned approximately 0.65% of Ark Restaurants at the end of the most recent quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 31.95% of the company’s stock.

Ark Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of Ark Restaurants stock opened at $5.01 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.09 million, a P/E ratio of -5.69 and a beta of 0.37. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $4.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $6.02. Ark Restaurants has a 12 month low of $4.32 and a 12 month high of $9.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.68.

Ark Restaurants (NASDAQ:ARKR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 10th. The restaurant operator reported ($0.10) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Ark Restaurants had a negative net margin of 2.04% and a negative return on equity of 10.61%. The company had revenue of $40.88 million during the quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Ark Restaurants in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Sell rating. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Sell”.

About Ark Restaurants

Ark Restaurants Corp. owns and operates a portfolio of restaurants, bars and other food-service venues in the United States. Its establishments span a range of dining formats, including full-service restaurants, casual dining locations, steakhouses, bars and limited-service food concepts. The company serves a variety of cuisines and customer segments, from everyday dining to destination and entertainment-oriented venues.

Ark Restaurants’ operations have historically been concentrated in major hospitality and tourism markets, including New York City, Washington, DC, and Las Vegas, Nevada, with additional locations in other U.S.