GAMMA Investing LLC Raises Holdings in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) by 29.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,297 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 990 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Aramark were worth $160,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Aramark by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 7,621 shares of the company’s stock worth $295,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT lifted its position in shares of Aramark by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 69,987 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,381,000 after acquiring an additional 310 shares during the period. 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 in the last quarter. Cadent Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Aramark by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Cadent Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,711 shares of the company’s stock worth $299,000 after acquiring an additional 349 shares during the period. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in Aramark by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 16,504 shares of the company’s stock valued at $643,000 after purchasing an additional 395 shares in the last quarter.

Aramark Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of ARMK opened at $36.83 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $38.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $36.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.81. The company has a market capitalization of $9.76 billion, a PE ratio of 37.20 and a beta of 1.64. Aramark has a fifty-two week low of $28.30 and a fifty-two week high of $42.49.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 11th. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54. The business had revenue of $4.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.46 billion. Aramark had a return on equity of 14.06% and a net margin of 1.51%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.64 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Aramark will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Aramark Cuts Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

ARMK has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Aramark from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Aramark from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Aramark from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com cut shares of Aramark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Aramark from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Aramark has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.59.

Aramark 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.