BNP Paribas Financial Markets Buys New Position in Arko Corp. (NASDAQ:ARKO)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets purchased a new position in shares of Arko Corp. (NASDAQ:ARKO) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 189,443 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,248,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned about 0.16% of Arko as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ARKO. Cannell Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Arko by 55.8% during the 4th quarter. Cannell Capital LLC now owns 2,710,772 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,864,000 after acquiring an additional 971,158 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Arko by 166.6% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 639,070 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,211,000 after acquiring an additional 399,387 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Arko by 12.3% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,851,140 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,200,000 after buying an additional 202,576 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Arko by 24.0% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 766,295 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,050,000 after purchasing an additional 148,269 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gamco Investors INC. ET AL boosted its stake in shares of Arko by 101.7% in the 4th quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 187,830 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,238,000 after purchasing an additional 94,685 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.29% of the company’s stock.

Arko Stock Down 4.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:ARKO opened at $4.97 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $4.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $5.77. The firm has a market cap of $569.96 million, a P/E ratio of 31.06 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.86, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.63. Arko Corp. has a 52-week low of $3.51 and a 52-week high of $7.84.

Arko (NASDAQ:ARKO) last issued 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. The firm had revenue of $1.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.85 billion. Arko had a return on equity of 8.88% and a net margin of 0.27%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Arko Corp. will post 0.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arko Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.41%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. Arko’s dividend payout ratio is currently 400.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ARKO. Stifel Nicolaus cut Arko from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $8.50 to $7.50 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Arko from $4.50 to $5.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Capital One Financial initiated coverage on Arko in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $8.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Raymond James cut their price target on Arko from $11.00 to $10.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 9th. Three investment 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Arko has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $7.35.

Arko 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.