ARKO (NASDAQ:ARKO) Stock Falls 6.8% – Should You Sell?

Shares of ARKO Corp. (NASDAQ:ARKO) were down 6.8% on Friday. The stock traded as low as $3.80 and last traded at $3.81. Approximately 534,719 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 4% from the average session volume of 555,232 shares. The stock had previously closed at $4.09.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ARKO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Mizuho set a $22.00 target price on ARKO in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Weiss Ratings downgraded ARKO from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Friday, September 25th. Raymond James Financial lowered ARKO from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $8.00 to $7.00 in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded ARKO from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, ARKO has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $14.50.

ARKO Stock Performance

The company’s 50 day moving average price is $4.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $6.19. The stock has a market cap of $427.44 million, a P/E ratio of 54.43 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.82, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.60.

ARKO (NASDAQ:ARKO) last released its earnings results on Friday, August 7th. The company reported $0.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.11). ARKO had a net margin of 0.19% and a return on equity of 4.02%. The business had revenue of $2.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.99 billion. Equities analysts forecast that ARKO Corp. will post 0.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ARKO Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th were paid a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 20th. ARKO’s payout ratio is currently 171.43%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ARKO

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ARKO. Engineers Gate Manager LP raised its position in ARKO by 46.5% during the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 101,499 shares of the company’s stock valued at $815,000 after purchasing an additional 32,204 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new position in shares of ARKO in the 2nd quarter worth about $174,000. Ancora Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of ARKO by 23.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 719,960 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,781,000 after purchasing an additional 134,682 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of ARKO during the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,671,000. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in shares of ARKO during the 2nd quarter valued at about $138,000. Institutional investors 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.