Arcos Dorados (NYSE:ARCO) Shares Gap Up After Dividend Announcement

Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc. (NYSE:ARCO – Get Rating) shares gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday following a dividend announcement from the company. The stock had previously closed at $8.03, but opened at $8.21. Arcos Dorados shares last traded at $7.68, with a volume of 295,481 shares trading hands.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Wednesday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 22nd will be given a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.52%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 21st. Arcos Dorados’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.05%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on ARCO shares. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Arcos Dorados from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 6th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Arcos Dorados in a research report on Thursday. They issued a “strong-buy” rating for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Arcos Dorados has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $10.00.

Arcos Dorados Stock Up 1.4 %

The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $8.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $7.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.99, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.60, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.99.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State of Wyoming boosted its holdings in shares of Arcos Dorados by 25.6% in the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 34,584 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $289,000 after acquiring an additional 7,053 shares in the last quarter. Rayliant Investment Research bought a new position in shares of Arcos Dorados in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $926,000. Jane Street Group LLC acquired a new stake in Arcos Dorados during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,231,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC acquired a new stake in Arcos Dorados during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $320,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in Arcos Dorados by 70.4% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,431,374 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $28,686,000 after purchasing an additional 1,417,481 shares during the last quarter. 36.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Arcos Dorados

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Arcos Dorados Holdings, Inc engages in the operation of restaurants. The firm operates and franchises McDonald’s restaurants in the food services industry through its subsidiaries. It operates through the following geographical segments: Brazil, Caribbean Division, North Latin America division (NOLAD), and South Latin America division (SLAD).