Empowered Funds LLC Acquires New Stake in ARKO Corp. $ARKO

Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in ARKO Corp. (NASDAQ:ARKO) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 581,717 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,671,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of ARKO. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of ARKO in the 2nd quarter worth $45,154,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of ARKO by 0.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,795,048 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,343,000 after acquiring an additional 22,532 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of ARKO by 7.3% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,021,751 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,800,000 after acquiring an additional 206,716 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in ARKO by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,903,496 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,644,000 after purchasing an additional 7,735 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new position in ARKO during the first quarter worth about $8,220,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.29% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, General Counsel Maury Bricks sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.50, for a total transaction of $85,000.00. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 162,841 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,384,148.50. The trade was a 5.79% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 21.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ARKO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Zacks Research downgraded shares of ARKO from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Weiss Ratings upgraded ARKO from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen downgraded ARKO from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 30th. Mizuho set a $22.00 price target on ARKO in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Raymond James Financial downgraded ARKO from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $8.00 to $7.00 in a research note on Monday, August 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $14.50.

ARKO Stock Performance

Shares of ARKO opened at $4.56 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $6.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $6.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.82. The company has a market capitalization of $511.59 million, a PE ratio of 65.14 and a beta of 1.00. ARKO Corp. has a 52-week low of $3.71 and a 52-week high of $8.76.

ARKO (NASDAQ:ARKO) last released 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.99 billion. ARKO had a return on equity of 4.02% and a net margin of 0.19%. Equities research analysts predict that ARKO Corp. will post 0.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ARKO Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th were given a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 20th. ARKO’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 171.43%.

ARKO Company Profile

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.