Bank of Montreal Can Purchases 76,214 Shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) by 169.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 121,202 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 76,214 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in Aramark were worth $4,659,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in Aramark by 6.4% in the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 19,286 shares of the company’s stock worth $747,000 after purchasing an additional 1,156 shares during the period. Summit Trail Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Aramark by 90.6% in the third quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 12,298 shares of the company’s stock worth $476,000 after purchasing an additional 5,846 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in Aramark by 69.4% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 27,202 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,054,000 after buying an additional 11,144 shares during the period. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in Aramark during the 3rd quarter valued at about $284,000. Finally, Citigroup Inc. boosted its position in Aramark by 21.2% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 111,918 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,335,000 after buying an additional 19,606 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Aramark from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $42.50 in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Aramark from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Aramark from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Aramark from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.23.

Aramark Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:ARMK opened at $40.19 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $38.81 and its 200 day moving average is $35.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.72. Aramark has a 1 year low of $26.58 and a 1 year high of $42.49. The firm 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 11th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.54. The firm had revenue of $4.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.46 billion. Aramark had a net margin of 1.51% and a return on equity of 14.06%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.64 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Aramark will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aramark Cuts Dividend

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

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.