Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc. (NYSE:ARCO) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc. (NYSE:ARCO) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,140,000 shares, a decrease of 5.7% from the March 15th total of 3,330,000 shares. Approximately 2.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,080,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.9 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Arcos Dorados during the 1st quarter valued at about $380,000. Perpetual Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Arcos Dorados during the 1st quarter valued at about $49,647,000. Confluence Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Arcos Dorados during the 1st quarter valued at about $192,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Arcos Dorados during the 4th quarter valued at about $441,000. Finally, FIL Ltd boosted its position in shares of Arcos Dorados by 56.5% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 7,801,467 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $99,001,000 after acquiring an additional 2,817,276 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.91% of the company’s stock.

Arcos Dorados Stock Performance

ARCO traded down $0.28 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $10.62. The stock had a trading volume of 1,303,483 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,375,854. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $11.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $11.28. Arcos Dorados has a 1 year low of $7.77 and a 1 year high of $13.20. The stock has a market cap of $2.24 billion, a PE ratio of 12.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38.

Arcos Dorados (NYSE:ARCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 13th. The restaurant operator reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter. Arcos Dorados had a return on equity of 43.72% and a net margin of 4.18%. The company had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter. Equities analysts anticipate that Arcos Dorados will post 0.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Arcos Dorados Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.06 per share. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 23rd. Arcos Dorados’s payout ratio is presently 28.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Arcos Dorados from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $13.38.

About Arcos Dorados

Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc operates as a franchisee of McDonald's restaurants. It has the exclusive right to own, operate, and grant franchises of McDonald's restaurants in 20 countries and territories in Latin America and the Caribbean, including Argentina, Aruba, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Curacao, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, the U.S.