ARKO (NASDAQ:ARKO) Lowered to Strong Sell Rating by Zacks Research

Zacks Research lowered shares of ARKO (NASDAQ:ARKO) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on ARKO. Mizuho set a $22.00 target price on shares of ARKO in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of ARKO from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of ARKO from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $8.00 to $7.00 in a research note on Monday. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of ARKO from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $14.50.

ARKO Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:ARKO opened at $4.46 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $7.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $6.71. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.93. ARKO has a 12-month low of $3.71 and a 12-month high of $8.76. The firm has a market cap of $500.37 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.71 and a beta of 1.00.

ARKO (NASDAQ:ARKO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 7th. The company reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $2.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.99 billion. ARKO had a net margin of 0.19% and a return on equity of 4.44%. On average, research analysts forecast that ARKO will post 0.11 EPS for the current year.

ARKO Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at ARKO

In other news, General Counsel Maury Bricks sold 15,000 shares of ARKO stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.69, for a total value of $115,350.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 182,841 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,406,047.29. The trade was a 7.58% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 21.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in ARKO by 63.1% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 117,544 shares of the company’s stock valued at $464,000 after buying an additional 45,478 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in ARKO by 4.4% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 47,838 shares of the company’s stock worth $189,000 after buying an additional 2,028 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of ARKO by 37.0% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 762,864 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,013,000 after acquiring an additional 206,061 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ARKO in the first quarter worth $1,335,000. Finally, Creative Planning raised its stake in shares of ARKO by 37.9% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 15,156 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 4,163 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.29% of the company’s stock.

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.