MQS Management LLC Takes Position in Arko Corp. (NASDAQ:ARKO)

MQS Management LLC bought a new stake in Arko Corp. (NASDAQ:ARKO) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 23,157 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $132,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Arko in the first quarter valued at approximately $61,000. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC purchased a new position in Arko in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $104,000. Gabelli Funds LLC lifted its stake in Arko by 300.0% in the fourth quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 80,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $660,000 after purchasing an additional 60,000 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Arko by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,039,264 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,574,000 after purchasing an additional 28,883 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Arko by 2.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,828,020 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,820,000 after purchasing an additional 82,831 shares during the last quarter. 78.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on ARKO. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Arko from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Arko from $7.00 to $5.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th.

Arko Price Performance

ARKO traded up $0.03 during trading on Thursday, reaching $6.33. The stock had a trading volume of 269,876 shares, compared to its average volume of 387,053. The stock has a market cap of $732.63 million, a PE ratio of 24.35 and a beta of 0.45. 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 Corp. has a one year low of $4.09 and a one year high of $8.42. The business has a 50-day moving average of $6.01 and a 200-day moving average of $6.24.

Arko (NASDAQ:ARKO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.17) by $0.15. The business had revenue of $2.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.11 billion. Arko had a return on equity of 13.20% and a net margin of 0.39%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Arko Corp. will post 0.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arko Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 20th were paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 17th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.90%. Arko’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.16%.

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.