Arcos Dorados (NYSE:ARCO) Stock Price Down 5.7% – Here’s What Happened

Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc. (NYSE:ARCO) shares traded down 5.7% during mid-day trading on Friday. The stock traded as low as $7.64 and last traded at $7.6550. 204,606 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 1,371,644 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.12.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on ARCO shares. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Arcos Dorados from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Monday, September 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Arcos Dorados from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $9.00 to $10.50 in a report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Arcos Dorados from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $10.50.

Arcos Dorados Price Performance

The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $7.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $8.28. The stock has a market cap of $1.64 billion, a PE ratio of 6.41 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

Arcos Dorados (NYSE:ARCO) last released its earnings results on Friday, August 14th. The restaurant operator reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.28 billion. Arcos Dorados had a return on equity of 12.50% and a net margin of 5.15%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc. will post 0.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Arcos Dorados

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ARCO. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its position in Arcos Dorados by 7.9% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 23,174,841 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $191,192,000 after buying an additional 1,703,169 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Arcos Dorados by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 10,741,166 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $88,615,000 after acquiring an additional 178,602 shares in the last quarter. Moerus Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Arcos Dorados by 19.9% in the 1st quarter. Moerus Capital Management LLC now owns 4,263,589 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $35,175,000 after acquiring an additional 706,683 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of Arcos Dorados by 132.8% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 3,483,732 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $28,741,000 after acquiring an additional 1,987,271 shares during the period. Finally, Brightlight Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Arcos Dorados by 55.2% in the 4th quarter. Brightlight Capital Management LP now owns 3,466,800 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $25,446,000 after acquiring an additional 1,232,800 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.91% of the company’s stock.

About Arcos Dorados

Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc is the largest independent McDonald’s franchisee in the world and the exclusive master franchisee for McDonald’s in Latin America and the Caribbean. The company operates and franchises McDonald’s restaurants across 20 countries and territories, serving customers through company-operated and franchised locations.

Its restaurant business offers McDonald’s products including hamburgers, chicken sandwiches, French fries, breakfast items, desserts, soft drinks and McCafé beverages.