ARKO (NASDAQ:ARKO) Stock Moved Down to “Strong Sell” by Zacks Research

Zacks Research cut shares of ARKO (NASDAQ:ARKO) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning,Zacks reports.

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

ARKO Price Performance

NASDAQ ARKO opened at $4.24 on Monday. ARKO has a fifty-two week low of $3.61 and a fifty-two week high of $8.76. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $4.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $5.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The firm has a market cap of $475.64 million, a P/E ratio of 84.82 and a beta of 0.99.

ARKO (NASDAQ:ARKO) last released its quarterly 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). The company had revenue of $2.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.02 billion. ARKO had a return on equity of 2.87% and a net margin of 0.14%. On average, analysts anticipate that ARKO will post 0.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ARKO Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 20th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. ARKO’s payout ratio is 240.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ARKO

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ARKO. Global Retirement Partners LLC bought a new stake in ARKO in the 3rd quarter valued at $42,000. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT increased its holdings in shares of ARKO by 26.5% during the 3rd quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT now owns 1,075,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,429,000 after purchasing an additional 225,000 shares during the period. Engineers Gate Manager LP increased its holdings in shares of ARKO by 46.5% during the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 101,499 shares of the company’s stock worth $815,000 after purchasing an additional 32,204 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC acquired a new position in shares of ARKO during the second quarter valued at about $174,000. Finally, Ancora Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of ARKO by 23.0% during the second quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 719,960 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,781,000 after buying an additional 134,682 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.29% of the company’s stock.

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.