ARKO (NASDAQ:ARKO) Shares Up 7.7% - Still a Buy?

ARKO Corp. (NASDAQ:ARKO - Get Free Report)'s stock price shot up 7.7% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $4.65 and last traded at $4.75. 127,624 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 74% from the average session volume of 485,517 shares. The stock had previously closed at $4.41.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on ARKO. Capital One Financial began coverage on shares of ARKO in a report on Thursday, May 8th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $8.00 target price on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of ARKO from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, June 7th. Raymond James Financial reduced their target price on shares of ARKO from $11.00 to $10.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 9th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of ARKO from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $8.50 to $7.50 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of ARKO from $4.50 to $5.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $7.35.

ARKO Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $504.59 million, a PE ratio of 146.67 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.21, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $4.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $5.32.

ARKO (NASDAQ:ARKO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported ($0.12) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.17) by $0.05. ARKO had a return on equity of 3.23% and a net margin of 0.10%. The business had revenue of $1.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.85 billion. On average, research analysts expect that ARKO Corp. will post 0.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ARKO Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were given a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 19th. ARKO's payout ratio is 400.00%.

Institutional Trading of ARKO

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of ARKO during the fourth quarter worth about $53,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its holdings in ARKO by 90.9% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 9,742 shares of the company's stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 4,639 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in ARKO in the fourth quarter valued at about $66,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in ARKO in the fourth quarter valued at about $66,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. bought a new stake in ARKO in the fourth quarter valued at about $68,000. 78.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.