Arko Corp. (NASDAQ:ARKO) Short Interest Update

Arko Corp. (NASDAQ:ARKO) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,620,000 shares, an increase of 51.5% from the March 15th total of 3,050,000 shares. Currently, 6.3% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 739,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 6.3 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in Arko during the 4th quarter worth approximately $53,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its stake in shares of Arko by 90.9% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 9,742 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 4,639 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Arko in the fourth quarter valued at $66,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in Arko during the 4th quarter valued at $66,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Arko during the 4th quarter worth $68,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Stifel Nicolaus lowered Arko from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $8.50 to $7.50 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th.

Arko Stock Performance

Arko stock opened at $4.10 on Friday. Arko has a 12-month low of $3.51 and a 12-month high of $7.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.86, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The company has a market capitalization of $474.66 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.63 and a beta of 0.68. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $4.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $6.15.

Arko Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Arko’s payout ratio is 92.31%.

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.