Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) Shares Sold by State of Tennessee Department of Treasury

State of Tennessee Department of Treasury decreased its position in shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 113,108 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,192 shares during the period. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury’s holdings in Aramark were worth $4,220,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ARMK. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Aramark by 7.2% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,570,938 shares of the company’s stock worth $254,427,000 after purchasing an additional 441,711 shares in the last quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP increased its stake in Aramark by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 259,364 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,677,000 after buying an additional 35,616 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its holdings in Aramark by 45.7% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 988 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Aramark by 42.2% during the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 199,657 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,470,000 after buying an additional 59,225 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in Aramark by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 17,067 shares of the company’s stock valued at $637,000 after buying an additional 563 shares during the period.

Aramark Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE ARMK opened at $32.96 on Friday. Aramark has a 12 month low of $29.82 and a 12 month high of $42.49. The company has a market capitalization of $8.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.95 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $34.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $37.14.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.03. Aramark had a return on equity of 14.72% and a net margin of 1.94%. The business had revenue of $4.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.61 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.41 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.3% 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 Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.105 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. This is a boost from Aramark’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. Aramark’s payout ratio is currently 33.07%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Aramark from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Citigroup began coverage on Aramark in a research report on Monday, February 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $48.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com cut Aramark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $47.00 target price on shares of Aramark in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aramark has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.08.

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.