Arko (NASDAQ:ARKO) Trading Down 3.7%

Arko Corp. (NASDAQ:ARKO) traded down 3.7% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $4.41 and last traded at $4.41. 163,933 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 48% from the average session volume of 312,592 shares. The stock had previously closed at $4.58.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Arko from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Arko from $7.00 to $5.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday.

Arko Trading Down 3.1 %

The business has a 50-day moving average price of $6.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $7.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $515.84 million, a P/E ratio of 18.32 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.77.

Arko (NASDAQ:ARKO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.04 by $0.02. Arko had a return on equity of 12.32% and a net margin of 0.37%. The firm had revenue of $2.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.40 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.09 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Arko Corp. will post 0.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arko Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 21st. Investors of record on Monday, March 11th were given a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 8th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.70%. Arko’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Morris Willner sold 2,792,631 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.76, for a total transaction of $18,878,185.56. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,683,980 shares in the company, valued at approximately $78,983,704.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 32.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arko

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Arko by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,039,264 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,574,000 after purchasing an additional 28,883 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its position in Arko by 23.6% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 145,461 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,040,000 after purchasing an additional 27,800 shares during the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC raised its position in Arko by 300.0% in the fourth quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 80,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $660,000 after purchasing an additional 60,000 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its position in Arko by 77.3% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 76,781 shares of the company’s stock valued at $550,000 after purchasing an additional 33,480 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jump Financial LLC bought a new position in Arko in the third quarter valued at about $434,000. 78.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Arko Company Profile

Arko Corp. operates convenience stores in the United States. It operates through Retail, Wholesale, Fleet Fueling, and GPMP segments. The Retail segment engages in the sale of fuel and merchandise to retail consumers. Its Wholesale segment supplies fuel to third-party dealers and consignment agents. The Fleet Fueling segment supplies fuel to proprietary and third-party cardlock, and issuance of proprietary fuel cards.