Gamco Investors INC. ET AL Purchases 164,288 Shares of ARKO Corp. $ARKO

Key Points

• Gamco Investors INC. ET AL significantly increased its stake in ARKO Corp. by 87.5%, purchasing an additional 164,288 shares during the first quarter.
• Research analysts have upgraded ARKO, with Zacks Research rating it as a "strong-buy", and a consensus target price of $7.13.
• ARKO Corp. declared a quarterly dividend of $0.03 per share, resulting in a 2.4% dividend yield, despite a high dividend payout ratio of 150.00%.

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL raised its position in shares of ARKO Corp. (NASDAQ:ARKO - Free Report) by 87.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 352,118 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 164,288 shares during the quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL owned about 0.31% of ARKO worth $1,391,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Gabelli Funds LLC boosted its position in ARKO by 134.5% during the 1st quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 333,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,315,000 after purchasing an additional 191,000 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of ARKO by 87.3% during the first quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 19,656 shares of the company's stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 9,163 shares during the period. Martingale Asset Management L P bought a new position in shares of ARKO during the first quarter worth about $130,000. Voss Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of ARKO in the 1st quarter worth about $9,547,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new stake in ARKO in the 1st quarter valued at about $45,000. 78.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ARKO Price Performance

ARKO stock traded up $0.04 on Thursday, hitting $4.90. 92,591 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 590,108. The stock has a market cap of $551.87 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.07 and a beta of 0.78. ARKO Corp. has a 1-year low of $3.51 and a 1-year high of $7.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.07. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $4.64 and a 200-day moving average of $4.58.

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

ARKO Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Monday, August 18th were given a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. ARKO's payout ratio is presently 150.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ARKO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded shares of ARKO to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Raymond James Financial set a $8.00 price objective on ARKO and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Capital One Financial began coverage on ARKO in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $8.00 target price on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on ARKO from $4.50 to $5.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised ARKO from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ARKO has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $7.13.

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.