Arcos Dorados Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:ARCO)

Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc. (NYSE:ARCO) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Traders bought 3,890 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 1,270% compared to the typical daily volume of 284 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arcos Dorados

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ARCO. Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in shares of Arcos Dorados by 132.8% during 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 last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Arcos Dorados by 7.9% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 23,174,841 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $191,192,000 after acquiring an additional 1,703,169 shares during the last quarter. Globeflex Capital L P acquired a new position in shares of Arcos Dorados in the 2nd quarter worth $6,574,000. 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 last quarter. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Arcos Dorados by 1.7% during the first quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 10,741,166 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $88,615,000 after purchasing an additional 178,602 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.91% of the company’s stock.

Arcos Dorados Stock Performance

ARCO stock traded down $0.79 during trading on Monday, hitting $7.30. 2,286,531 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,395,910. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. Arcos Dorados has a 52 week low of $6.67 and a 52 week high of $9.75. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $7.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $8.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.99 and a beta of 0.48.

Arcos Dorados (NYSE:ARCO) last issued its earnings results on Friday, August 14th. The restaurant operator reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.07. Arcos Dorados had a net margin of 5.15% and a return on equity of 12.50%. The company had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.28 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Arcos Dorados will post 0.80 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ARCO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America lowered shares of Arcos Dorados from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $9.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Arcos Dorados from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 20th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Arcos Dorados from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Arcos Dorados from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Arcos Dorados from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $9.00 to $10.50 in a research report on Friday, July 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $9.75.

Arcos Dorados Company Profile

Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc (NYSE: ARCO) is the largest independent McDonald’s franchisee in the world. The company operates and franchises McDonald’s restaurants across Latin America and the Caribbean under a master franchise agreement with McDonald’s Corporation.

Its restaurants offer McDonald’s products, including hamburgers, chicken items, french fries, breakfast products, beverages, desserts and other menu offerings. Arcos Dorados also provides services such as McCafé, McDelivery, digital ordering and drive-thru operations, depending on the market.

Headquartered in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Arcos Dorados serves customers in approximately 20 countries and territories, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay and Venezuela.