Short Interest in Arko Corp. (NASDAQ:ARKO) Expands By 6.1%

Arko Corp. (NASDAQ:ARKO - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,940,000 shares, an increase of 6.1% from the March 15th total of 2,770,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 305,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 9.6 days. Currently, 4.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on 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 Stock Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ ARKO traded down $0.02 on Tuesday, reaching $4.70. The company had a trading volume of 360,452 shares, compared to its average volume of 308,646. The stock has a market capitalization of $546.05 million, a P/E ratio of 18.80 and a beta of 0.28. The company's fifty day moving average is $6.39 and its 200 day moving average is $7.28. Arko has a 52-week low of $4.62 and a 52-week high of $8.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.77.

Arko (NASDAQ:ARKO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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 return on equity of 12.32% and a net margin of 0.37%. The firm had revenue of $2.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.40 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.09 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Arko will post 0.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arko Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 11th were paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 8th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.55%. Arko's payout ratio is 48.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Arko news, major shareholder Morris Willner sold 2,792,631 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.76, for a total transaction of $18,878,185.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 11,683,980 shares of the company's stock, valued at $78,983,704.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 32.16% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Phoenix Holdings Ltd. bought a new position in Arko in the 3rd quarter worth about $43,726,000. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in Arko by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,694,530 shares of the company's stock worth $45,272,000 after purchasing an additional 174,306 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Arko by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,143,955 shares of the company's stock worth $38,913,000 after purchasing an additional 155,194 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Arko by 4.2% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,092,707 shares of the company's stock worth $37,244,000 after purchasing an additional 163,675 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its stake in Arko by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,840,860 shares of the company's stock worth $14,635,000 after purchasing an additional 16,384 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.29% of the company's stock.

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.