Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Sells 359,100 Shares of ARKO Corp. $ARKO

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lowered its holdings in shares of ARKO Corp. (NASDAQ:ARKO) by 67.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 175,659 shares of the company’s stock after selling 359,100 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned about 0.16% of ARKO worth $797,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ARKO. Phoenix Financial Ltd. boosted its stake in ARKO by 20.4% in the third quarter. Phoenix Financial Ltd. now owns 7,309,430 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,404,000 after buying an additional 1,239,512 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in ARKO by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,795,048 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,343,000 after purchasing an additional 22,532 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in ARKO by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,798,778 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,790,000 after purchasing an additional 63,779 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in ARKO by 37.0% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 762,864 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,013,000 after buying an additional 206,061 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in ARKO by 22.5% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 733,606 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,103,000 after buying an additional 134,502 shares in the last quarter. 78.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

ARKO Trading Up 2.9%

ARKO opened at $5.72 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.02, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.22. ARKO Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $3.51 and a fifty-two week high of $6.70. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $5.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $5.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $634.29 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.86 and a beta of 0.86.

ARKO (NASDAQ:ARKO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported $0.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by $0.03. ARKO had a net margin of 0.30% and a return on equity of 8.58%. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.81 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that ARKO Corp. will post 0.2 earnings per share for the current year.

ARKO Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. ARKO’s payout ratio is presently 85.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Charles Galagher Jeff purchased 40,000 shares of ARKO stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $5.07 per share, for a total transaction of $202,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 40,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,800. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 22.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of ARKO in a report on Monday, December 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $7.00.

ARKO Profile

ARKO Corp (NASDAQ: ARKO) is a downstream energy and convenience retail company based in Matthews, North Carolina. The company’s core operations encompass fuel supply, distribution and retailing through a network of terminals, independent dealer locations and company-operated convenience stores. ARKO’s fuel offerings include branded and unbranded gasoline and diesel, as well as lubricants and other petroleum products marketed under various regional and private labels.

In its retail segment, ARKO operates a portfolio of convenience stores under the Kangaroo Express banner, serving on-site customers with fuel, grab-and-go food items, beverages and everyday household essentials.