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

Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc. (NYSE:ARCO) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totaling 3,486,026 shares, a drop of 52.7% from the June 30th total of 7,367,249 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,748,910 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.0 days. Currently, 1.7% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Institutional Trading of Arcos Dorados

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ARCO. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Arcos Dorados by 35.3% during the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 20,128,477 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $135,867,000 after acquiring an additional 5,255,199 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in Arcos Dorados by 132.8% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 3,483,732 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $28,741,000 after acquiring an additional 1,987,271 shares during the period. Brightlight Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in Arcos Dorados by 55.2% during the fourth quarter. Brightlight Capital Management LP now owns 3,466,800 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $25,446,000 after purchasing an additional 1,232,800 shares during the last quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda boosted its position in Arcos Dorados by 19.1% during the fourth quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda now owns 7,551,676 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $55,429,000 after purchasing an additional 1,209,055 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in Arcos Dorados by 312.7% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,049,734 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $7,705,000 after purchasing an additional 795,400 shares during the period. 55.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Arcos Dorados Stock Performance

Shares of ARCO stock traded up $0.12 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $8.43. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 909,418 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,336,972. The company has a market cap of $1.77 billion, a PE ratio of 7.59 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The business has a fifty day moving average of $8.42 and a 200-day moving average of $8.37. Arcos Dorados has a 52 week low of $6.51 and a 52 week high of $9.75.

Arcos Dorados (NYSE:ARCO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The restaurant operator reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.21 billion. Arcos Dorados had a return on equity of 10.47% and a net margin of 4.86%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.07 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Arcos Dorados will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on ARCO shares. Santander raised shares of Arcos Dorados to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Arcos Dorados from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Arcos Dorados in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Arcos Dorados from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Arcos Dorados from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $9.00 to $10.50 in a report on Friday, July 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Arcos Dorados presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $10.50.

About Arcos Dorados

Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc is the largest independent McDonald’s franchisee in the world, operating under an exclusive license agreement with McDonald’s Corporation. The company develops, owns and operates quick-service restaurants, offering the full McDonald’s menu, including hamburgers, chicken sandwiches, salads, sides, desserts and McCafé beverages. In addition to restaurant operations, Arcos Dorados manages supply chain logistics, property development, training and support services for its franchise network.

Headquartered in Montevideo, Uruguay, Arcos Dorados serves 20 markets across Latin America and the Caribbean, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Uruguay.