Arko Corp. (NASDAQ:ARKO) Short Interest Update

Arko Corp. (NASDAQ:ARKO) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in June. As of June 30th, there was short interest totalling 4,250,000 shares, an increase of 18.4% from the June 15th total of 3,590,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 473,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 9.0 days. Currently, 6.0% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Arko from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Arko from $7.00 to $5.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 19th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arko

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ARKO. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Arko during the 2nd quarter valued at about $119,000. CWM LLC raised its holdings in Arko by 72.8% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,791 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 2,018 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Arko by 15.4% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 23,216 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,000 after buying an additional 3,092 shares during the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of Arko by 46.3% during the first quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 117,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $667,000 after buying an additional 37,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gamco Investors INC. ET AL increased its position in shares of Arko by 84.3% during the first quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 98,385 shares of the company’s stock valued at $561,000 after acquiring an additional 45,000 shares in the last quarter. 78.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Arko Trading Up 1.5 %

NASDAQ ARKO opened at $6.20 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.13, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.53. Arko has a fifty-two week low of $4.09 and a fifty-two week high of $8.55. The stock has a market cap of $717.59 million, a P/E ratio of 23.85 and a beta of 0.45. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $5.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $6.32.

Arko (NASDAQ:ARKO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.02) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.17) by $0.15. Arko had a net margin of 0.39% and a return on equity of 13.20%. The business had revenue of $2.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. On average, analysts forecast that Arko will post 0.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Arko Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 20th were issued a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 17th. Arko’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.16%.

About Arko

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.