Raymond James Trust N.A. Boosts Stake in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

Raymond James Trust N.A. lifted its stake in shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) by 83.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,770 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 6,255 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A.’s holdings in Aramark were worth $533,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Farallon Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Aramark by 5.5% in the first quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 17,822,937 shares of the company’s stock worth $579,602,000 after purchasing an additional 923,683 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in Aramark by 70.0% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,329,917 shares of the company’s stock worth $322,618,000 after acquiring an additional 3,430,131 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Aramark by 18.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,731,963 shares of the company’s stock valued at $160,977,000 after acquiring an additional 720,738 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Aramark by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,732,661 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,106,000 after purchasing an additional 14,839 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in Aramark by 822.3% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,677,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,073,000 after purchasing an additional 1,495,737 shares during the period.

Aramark Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of ARMK stock opened at $41.83 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $38.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $35.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.25 and a beta of 1.62. Aramark has a fifty-two week low of $26.58 and a fifty-two week high of $42.04. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42.

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

Aramark Cuts Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Aramark from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $36.00 to $42.50 in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Aramark from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. StockNews.com raised Aramark from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Aramark from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Aramark from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.23.

Aramark Company Profile

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.