Bank of Montreal Can Increases Stock Holdings in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

Bank of Montreal Can lifted its holdings in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) by 169.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 121,202 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 76,214 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in Aramark were worth $4,659,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Huntington National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Aramark by 100.3% during the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 681 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 341 shares during the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in Aramark during the third quarter valued at about $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in Aramark by 360.1% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 773 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 605 shares in the last quarter. Friedenthal Financial bought a new position in shares of Aramark in the third quarter worth about $52,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Aramark by 319.3% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,677 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 1,277 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ARMK has been the topic of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Aramark from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $36.00 to $42.50 in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Aramark from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Aramark from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Aramark from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on Aramark from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aramark currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.23.

Aramark Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ARMK opened at $40.19 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $35.94. Aramark has a 52 week low of $26.58 and a 52 week high of $42.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.60 and a beta of 1.63.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 11th. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.54. Aramark had a return on equity of 14.06% and a net margin of 1.51%. The company had revenue of $4.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.46 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.64 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Aramark will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aramark Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.001 per share. This represents a $0.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. Aramark’s payout ratio is 42.42%.

About Aramark

Aramark provides food and facilities services to education, healthcare, business and industry, sports, leisure, and corrections clients in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, Food and Support Services United States, and Food and Support Services International. The company offers food-related managed services, including dining, catering, food service management, and convenience-oriented retail services; non-clinical food and food-related support services, such as patient food and nutrition, retail food, environmental services, and procurement services; and plant operations and maintenance, custodial/housekeeping, energy management, grounds keeping, and capital project management services.