Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc. (NYSE:ARCO) Given Average Rating of “Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc. (NYSE:ARCO) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Buy” from the five brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $10.50.

ARCO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of 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 report on Friday, July 17th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Arcos Dorados from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Arcos Dorados in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Arcos Dorados from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Santander raised Arcos Dorados to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 178,602 shares in the last quarter. Moerus Capital Management LLC boosted its position 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 valued at $35,175,000 after acquiring an additional 706,683 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Arcos Dorados by 7.9% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 23,174,841 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $191,192,000 after acquiring an additional 1,703,169 shares in the last quarter. Dumac Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Arcos Dorados in the fourth quarter valued at about $447,000. Finally, Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Arcos Dorados during the fourth quarter worth about $771,000. 55.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Arcos Dorados Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of Arcos Dorados stock opened at $8.30 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $8.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $8.37. Arcos Dorados has a 1 year low of $6.51 and a 1 year high of $9.75. The company has a market capitalization of $1.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.48 and a beta of 0.48.

Arcos Dorados (NYSE:ARCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 21st. The restaurant operator reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.21 billion. Arcos Dorados had a net margin of 4.86% and a return on equity of 10.47%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.07 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Arcos Dorados will post 0.76 EPS for the current year.

Arcos Dorados Company Profile

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.