Short Interest in Arko Corp. (NASDAQ:ARKO) Expands By 23.0%

Arko Corp. (NASDAQ:ARKO) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,050,000 shares, a growth of 23.0% from the February 28th total of 2,480,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 666,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.6 days. Currently, 4.1% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arko

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARKO. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new stake in shares of Arko during the 4th quarter worth about $53,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its position in Arko by 90.9% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 9,742 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 4,639 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Arko during the fourth quarter worth approximately $66,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in shares of Arko during the fourth quarter worth approximately $66,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Arko in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $68,000. 78.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Arko Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ARKO opened at $4.03 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.86. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $5.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $6.43. The company has a market cap of $466.56 million, a PE ratio of 25.19 and a beta of 0.61. Arko has a twelve month low of $3.76 and a twelve month high of $7.84.

Arko Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.98%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Arko’s dividend payout ratio is 92.31%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Arko from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $8.50 to $7.50 in a report on Thursday, February 27th.

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.