Arko Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:ARKO)

Arko Corp. (NASDAQ:ARKO) was the target of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Investors bought 2,060 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 1,283% compared to the average daily volume of 149 put options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arko

In related news, major shareholder Morris Willner sold 2,792,631 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.76, for a total transaction of $18,878,185.56. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,683,980 shares in the company, valued at $78,983,704.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 32.16% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arko

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Arko by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,745,189 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,898,000 after purchasing an additional 119,075 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Arko by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 806,157 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,651,000 after acquiring an additional 4,591 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Arko by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,124 shares of the company’s stock worth $167,000 after acquiring an additional 1,783 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Arko by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 60,032 shares of the company’s stock worth $495,000 after purchasing an additional 2,322 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Arko by 125.0% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 172,751 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,424,000 after purchasing an additional 95,970 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.29% of the company’s stock.

Arko Stock Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ ARKO opened at $4.82 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $6.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $7.33. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.77. The firm has a market cap of $559.99 million, a PE ratio of 19.28 and a beta of 0.28. Arko has a 52 week low of $4.77 and a 52 week high of $9.04.

Arko (NASDAQ:ARKO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The company reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.04 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.40 billion. Arko had a net margin of 0.37% and a return on equity of 12.32%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.09 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Arko will post 0.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Arko Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 21st. Investors of record on Monday, March 11th were issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 8th. Arko’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Arko from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 29th.

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.