Arko (NASDAQ:ARKO) Shares Gap Up to $4.28

Shares of Arko Corp. (NASDAQ:ARKO) gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $4.28, but opened at $4.67. Arko shares last traded at $5.13, with a volume of 378,217 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on ARKO. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Arko from $7.00 to $5.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Arko from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 29th.

Arko Trading Up 18.0 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.77, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.54. The company has a market capitalization of $584.49 million, a P/E ratio of 19.92 and a beta of 0.36. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $5.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $6.95.

Arko (NASDAQ:ARKO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The company reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.04 by $0.02. Arko had a net margin of 0.37% and a return on equity of 12.32%. The company had revenue of $2.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.40 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.09 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Arko Corp. will post 0.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Arko news, major shareholder Morris Willner sold 2,792,631 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.76, for a total value 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 $78,983,704.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 21.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arko

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ARKO. Principal Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Arko during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $61,000. MQS Management LLC acquired a new stake in Arko during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $95,000. Dark Forest Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Arko in the 3rd quarter valued at $101,000. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Arko in the fourth quarter worth $104,000. Finally, Aigen Investment Management LP acquired a new position in Arko during the third quarter valued at $123,000. 78.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Arko

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.