Souders Financial Advisors Decreases Holdings in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

Souders Financial Advisors trimmed its holdings in shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) by 1.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 104,572 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,160 shares during the period. Souders Financial Advisors’ holdings in Aramark were worth $4,050,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARMK. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Aramark by 173.9% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,697 shares of the company’s stock valued at $221,000 after purchasing an additional 3,617 shares in the last quarter. Leeward Investments LLC MA bought a new position in Aramark in the 2nd quarter worth about $9,263,000. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado grew its position in Aramark by 19.1% in the 1st quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 810,174 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,347,000 after purchasing an additional 129,939 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its position in Aramark by 63.6% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 140,432 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,439,000 after purchasing an additional 54,580 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Comerica Bank grew its position in Aramark by 14.9% in the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 126,658 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,119,000 after purchasing an additional 16,423 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Aramark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Aramark from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Aramark from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Aramark from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Aramark from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aramark has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.23.

Aramark Price Performance

Shares of Aramark stock opened at $38.03 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $10.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.41 and a beta of 1.62. Aramark has a twelve month low of $25.92 and a twelve month high of $42.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.81. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $35.10.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 11th. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54. The firm had revenue of $4.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 period in the previous year, the business earned $0.64 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Aramark will post 1.91 EPS 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 given a dividend of $0.001 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.01%. Aramark’s payout ratio is 38.38%.

About Aramark

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.