Arko Corp. (NASDAQ:ARKO) Short Interest Up 8.7% in August

Arko Corp. (NASDAQ:ARKO) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,620,000 shares, a growth of 8.7% from the August 15th total of 3,330,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 398,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 9.1 days. Currently, 5.1% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Arko from $5.00 to $6.25 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th.

Arko Stock Performance

Arko stock opened at $6.41 on Tuesday. Arko has a fifty-two week low of $4.09 and a fifty-two week high of $8.42. The stock has a market cap of $741.92 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.65 and a beta of 0.45. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $6.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $5.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.97, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.58.

Arko (NASDAQ:ARKO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.18 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $2.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.41 billion. Arko had a return on equity of 13.12% and a net margin of 0.39%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.11 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Arko will post 0.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arko Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Monday, August 19th were given a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 19th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.87%. Arko’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.15%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arko

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ARKO. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Arko by 72.8% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,791 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 2,018 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Arko during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $61,000. Arizona State Retirement System raised its stake in Arko by 27.9% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 18,476 shares of the company’s stock valued at $116,000 after buying an additional 4,030 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Arko in the second quarter worth $119,000. Finally, MQS Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Arko in the first quarter worth $132,000. Institutional investors own 78.29% of the company’s stock.

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.