Squarepoint Ops LLC Purchases New Position in Arko Corp. (NASDAQ:ARKO)

Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Arko Corp. (NASDAQ:ARKO) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 15,206 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $100,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Cannell Capital LLC grew its holdings 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. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 202,576 shares during the period. CM Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Arko by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. CM Management LLC now owns 1,050,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,920,000 after acquiring an additional 30,000 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Arko by 24.0% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 766,295 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,050,000 after acquiring an additional 148,269 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Arko by 9.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 709,445 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,675,000 after acquiring an additional 58,453 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Raymond James dropped their price target on Arko from $11.00 to $10.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Wall Street Zen raised Arko from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Capital One Financial started coverage on Arko in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $8.00 price objective on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus cut Arko from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $8.50 to $7.50 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Arko from $4.50 to $5.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Arko currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $7.35.

Arko Stock Performance

Arko stock opened at $4.58 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $4.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $5.54. 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 fifty-two week low of $3.51 and a fifty-two week high of $7.84. The company has a market capitalization of $525.23 million, a PE ratio of 28.63 and a beta of 0.74.

Arko (NASDAQ:ARKO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported ($0.12) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.17) by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.83 billion for 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, equities analysts forecast that Arko Corp. will post 0.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Arko Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were given a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 19th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.62%. Arko’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 400.00%.

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.