Northern Trust Corp Boosts Stock Position in Arko Corp. (NASDAQ:ARKO)

Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Arko Corp. (NASDAQ:ARKO - Free Report) by 9.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 709,445 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 58,453 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned approximately 0.61% of Arko worth $4,675,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ARKO. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its holdings in shares of Arko by 90.9% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 9,742 shares of the company's stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 4,639 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in shares of Arko during the fourth quarter valued at $66,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Arko during the fourth quarter valued at $66,000. Prudential Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Arko during the fourth quarter valued at $195,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Arko by 114.7% during the fourth quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 30,073 shares of the company's stock valued at $198,000 after acquiring an additional 16,069 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.29% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Arko from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $8.50 to $7.50 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Capital One Financial assumed coverage on Arko in a report on Thursday, May 8th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $8.00 price target for the company. Raymond James reduced their price target on Arko from $11.00 to $10.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Arko from $4.50 to $5.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $7.35.

Arko Stock Performance

NASDAQ ARKO traded down $0.19 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $4.50. The company's stock had a trading volume of 457,316 shares, compared to its average volume of 477,139. Arko Corp. has a 12 month low of $3.51 and a 12 month high of $7.84. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $4.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $5.73. The company has a market cap of $516.06 million, a P/E ratio of 28.13 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.86, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.13.

Arko (NASDAQ:ARKO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported ($0.12) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.17) by $0.05. Arko had a return on equity of 8.88% and a net margin of 0.27%. The company had revenue of $1.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.85 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Arko Corp. will post 0.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arko Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.67%. Arko's payout ratio is 400.00%.

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.