Arko Corp. (NASDAQ:ARKO) Shares Sold by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its stake in Arko Corp. (NASDAQ:ARKO - Free Report) by 14.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,626,114 shares of the company's stock after selling 630,099 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 3.10% of Arko worth $25,927,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARKO. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio grew its position in shares of Arko by 40.5% during the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 4,172 shares of the company's stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 1,203 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Arko by 10.3% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 14,595 shares of the company's stock worth $126,000 after acquiring an additional 1,364 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming grew its position in shares of Arko by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 17,723 shares of the company's stock worth $153,000 after acquiring an additional 1,418 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in shares of Arko by 2.1% during the third quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 76,595 shares of the company's stock worth $548,000 after acquiring an additional 1,611 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its position in shares of Arko by 149.7% during the first quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,004 shares of the company's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 1,801 shares during the last quarter. 78.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arko

In other Arko news, major shareholder Morris Willner sold 2,792,631 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.76, for a total value of $18,878,185.56. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 11,683,980 shares of the company's stock, valued at $78,983,704.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 32.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Arko Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ARKO traded down $0.15 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $4.67. 337,196 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 394,485. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.77. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $6.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $7.31. Arko Corp. has a 1-year low of $4.64 and a 1-year high of $9.04. The firm has a market cap of $542.56 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.68 and a beta of 0.28.

Arko (NASDAQ:ARKO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 the consensus estimate of $2.40 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.09 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Arko Corp. will post 0.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arko Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 11th were issued a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 8th. Arko's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Arko from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 29th.

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.