Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc. $ARCO Stock: Private Management Group Inc. Raises Position

Private Management Group Inc. grew its stake in Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc. (NYSE:ARCO) by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,416,163 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 98,070 shares during the period. Private Management Group Inc. owned approximately 1.62% of Arcos Dorados worth $24,426,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its holdings 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 valued at $191,192,000 after buying an additional 1,703,169 shares during the period. Moerus Capital Management LLC lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 706,683 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in Arcos Dorados by 132.8% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 3,483,732 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $28,741,000 after buying an additional 1,987,271 shares during the period. Globeflex Capital L P purchased a new position in Arcos Dorados during the second quarter worth $6,574,000. Finally, O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in Arcos Dorados by 2.7% during the third 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 period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.91% of the company’s stock.

Arcos Dorados Price Performance

Shares of ARCO stock opened at $7.05 on Tuesday. Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $6.67 and a 52-week high of $9.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.78 and a beta of 0.54. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $7.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $8.18.

Arcos Dorados (NYSE:ARCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 14th. The restaurant operator reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.28 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc. will post 0.80 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Arcos Dorados from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $9.00 to $10.50 in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Arcos Dorados from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Arcos Dorados from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 20th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Arcos Dorados from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, Bank of America lowered shares of Arcos Dorados from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $9.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, October 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Arcos Dorados presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $9.75.

About Arcos Dorados

Arcos Dorados Holdings operates McDonald’s restaurants in Latin America and the Caribbean under a master franchise agreement. It is the largest independent McDonald’s franchisee in the world by restaurant count, with operations across 20 countries and territories in the region.

The company’s restaurants serve McDonald’s menu items, including burgers, fries, chicken, breakfast foods, desserts and beverages. Its services also include McCafé offerings, delivery and digital ordering through channels such as mobile apps and kiosks.

Arcos Dorados was formed in 2007 when McDonald’s separated its Latin American and Caribbean operations into a regional franchise business.