Arcos Dorados (NYSE:ARCO) Cut to Neutral at Bank of America

Arcos Dorados (NYSE:ARCO) was downgraded by stock analysts at Bank of America from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, Briefing.com reports. They presently have a $9.00 price objective on the restaurant operator’s stock. Bank of America‘s price target would suggest a potential upside of 11.32% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on ARCO. Zacks Research upgraded Arcos Dorados from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 20th. Weiss Ratings raised Arcos Dorados from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen cut Arcos Dorados from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded 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 report on Friday, July 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Arcos Dorados currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $9.75.

Arcos Dorados Price Performance

ARCO stock opened at $8.09 on Monday. 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 has a 1 year low of $6.67 and a 1 year high of $9.75. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $7.83 and a 200 day moving average of $8.26. The company has a market cap of $1.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.63 and a beta of 0.48.

Arcos Dorados (NYSE:ARCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.28 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Arcos Dorados will post 0.80 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arcos Dorados

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ARCO. O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc. grew its stake in shares of Arcos Dorados by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc. now owns 694,787 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,968,000 after buying an additional 18,068 shares during the last quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP increased its position in Arcos Dorados by 38.1% during the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 139,901 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,128,000 after buying an additional 38,621 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC increased its position in Arcos Dorados by 15.9% during the 2nd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 81,779 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $659,000 after buying an additional 11,244 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new position in Arcos Dorados during the second quarter valued at $81,000. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Arcos Dorados during the second quarter valued at $87,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.91% of the company’s stock.

About Arcos Dorados

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.