ARKO Corp. (NASDAQ:ARKO) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• ARKO Corp. has received a consensus recommendation of "Buy" from five research firms, with an average 12-month price target of $7.1250.
• Institutional investors hold 78.29% of ARKO's shares, with significant increases in stakes reported from firms like JPMorgan Chase and Sterling Capital Management.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.03, offering an annualized yield of 2.4%, despite a high dividend payout ratio of 150.00%.

Shares of ARKO Corp. (NASDAQ:ARKO - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average recommendation of "Buy" from the five research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $7.1250.

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on ARKO shares. Capital One Financial began coverage on shares of ARKO in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $8.00 price target for the company. Zacks Research raised shares of ARKO to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Raymond James Financial set a $8.00 price target on shares of ARKO and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded ARKO from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on ARKO from $4.50 to $5.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ARKO

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARKO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in ARKO by 166.6% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 639,070 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,211,000 after acquiring an additional 399,387 shares during the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its stake in shares of ARKO by 29.5% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 46,276 shares of the company's stock valued at $305,000 after purchasing an additional 10,547 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of ARKO during the fourth quarter worth $368,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its stake in ARKO by 21,733.5% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 56,767 shares of the company's stock worth $374,000 after buying an additional 56,507 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in ARKO by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 180,737 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,191,000 after buying an additional 9,137 shares during the period. 78.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

ARKO Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ARKO opened at $4.98 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.07. ARKO has a 1-year low of $3.51 and a 1-year high of $7.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $561.45 million, a P/E ratio of 62.26 and a beta of 0.74. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $4.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $4.78.

ARKO (NASDAQ:ARKO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.04 billion. ARKO had a return on equity of 5.50% and a net margin of 0.18%. Equities analysts predict that ARKO will post 0.2 earnings per share for the current year.

ARKO Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th will be paid a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 18th. ARKO's dividend payout ratio is presently 150.00%.

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.

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