Arko Corp. (NASDAQ:ARKO) Short Interest Up 6.1% in March

Arko Corp. (NASDAQ:ARKO) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,940,000 shares, an increase of 6.1% from the March 15th total of 2,770,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 305,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 9.6 days. Approximately 4.0% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Morris Willner sold 2,792,631 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.76, for a total transaction of $18,878,185.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,683,980 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $78,983,704.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 32.16% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arko

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ARKO. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in Arko by 149.7% in the first quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,004 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 1,801 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its stake in shares of Arko by 40.5% in the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 4,172 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 1,203 shares in the last quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc bought a new position in shares of Arko in the third quarter worth approximately $72,000. ProShare Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Arko in the second quarter worth approximately $85,000. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Arko in the fourth quarter worth approximately $90,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target 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.

Arko Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ARKO opened at $4.70 on Wednesday. Arko has a 1 year low of $4.62 and a 1 year high of $8.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.77, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The company’s 50-day moving average is $6.39 and its 200 day moving average is $7.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $546.05 million, a P/E ratio of 18.80 and a beta of 0.28.

Arko (NASDAQ:ARKO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.04 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.40 billion. Arko had a net margin of 0.37% and a return on equity of 12.32%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.09 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Arko will post 0.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Arko Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 2.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 8th. Arko’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.00%.

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.