HighTower Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 16,504 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 395 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Aramark were worth $643,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ARMK. Huntington National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Aramark by 100.3% in the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 681 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 341 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in Aramark in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake 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 Aramark during the third quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Aramark by 225.5% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,080 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 1,441 shares in the last quarter.

Aramark Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE ARMK opened at $37.41 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $9.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.79 and a beta of 1.63. Aramark has a fifty-two week low of $27.39 and a fifty-two week high of $42.49. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.81.

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

Aramark Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were given 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 of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. Aramark’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley upped 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. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Aramark from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com upgraded Aramark from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised Aramark from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $36.00 to $42.50 in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.59.

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.