ARKO Corp. (NASDAQ:ARKO) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

ARKO Corp. (NASDAQ:ARKO) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the five analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation, one has assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $7.00.

Separately, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of ARKO in a research note on Monday, December 29th.

ARKO Price Performance

Shares of ARKO stock opened at $5.72 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $634.29 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.86 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.02, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.66. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $5.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $5.01. ARKO has a one year low of $3.51 and a one year high of $6.70.

ARKO (NASDAQ:ARKO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported $0.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.03. ARKO had a return on equity of 8.58% and a net margin of 0.30%.The company had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.81 billion. Equities analysts expect that ARKO will post 0.2 EPS for the current year.

ARKO Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th were paid a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. ARKO’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.71%.

Insider Activity

In other ARKO news, CFO Charles Galagher Jeff bought 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $5.07 per share, for a total transaction of $202,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 40,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,800. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 22.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ARKO

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Lee Financial Co bought a new position in ARKO in the 3rd quarter worth about $891,000. Phoenix Financial Ltd. raised its stake in shares of ARKO by 20.4% during the third quarter. Phoenix Financial Ltd. now owns 7,309,430 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,404,000 after acquiring an additional 1,239,512 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of ARKO in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,444,000. Teton Advisors LLC bought a new position in ARKO in the third quarter worth approximately $594,000. Finally, State of Wyoming grew its stake in ARKO by 43.0% in the third quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 103,050 shares of the company’s stock worth $471,000 after purchasing an additional 30,997 shares in the last quarter. 78.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.