Arcos Dorados (NYSE:ARCO) Stock Price Down 6.5% – Time to Sell?

Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc. (NYSE:ARCO) shares were down 6.5% during trading on Thursday. The stock traded as low as $6.71 and last traded at $6.6850. 1,684,212 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 31% from the average daily volume of 1,286,034 shares. The stock had previously closed at $7.15.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Arcos Dorados Price Performance

The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $7.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $8.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.49 billion, a PE ratio of 5.82 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Arcos Dorados by 7.9% during 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 period. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Arcos Dorados by 1.7% in 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 in the last quarter. Moerus Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Arcos Dorados by 19.9% in the first quarter. Moerus Capital Management LLC now owns 4,263,589 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $35,175,000 after purchasing an additional 706,683 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised 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 purchasing an additional 1,987,271 shares during the period. Finally, Brightlight Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of Arcos Dorados by 55.2% during the 4th 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 period. 55.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Arcos Dorados Company Profile

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.