Retirement Systems of Alabama Has $12.40 Million Stake in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

Retirement Systems of Alabama reduced its stake in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 320,027 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,569 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Aramark were worth $12,395,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Aramark by 7.2% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in Aramark in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $761,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in Aramark in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $309,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Aramark by 1.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,363,113 shares of the company’s stock valued at $169,028,000 after purchasing an additional 45,384 shares during the period. Finally, M&T Bank Corp increased its position in shares of Aramark by 5.5% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 16,206 shares of the company’s stock valued at $628,000 after purchasing an additional 838 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Aramark from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Aramark from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Aramark from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $36.00 to $42.50 in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Aramark from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Aramark from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Aramark currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.59.

Aramark Stock Down 0.6 %

NYSE:ARMK opened at $40.17 on Monday. 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 cap of $10.60 billion, a PE ratio of 40.58 and a beta of 1.63. Aramark has a 52-week low of $27.05 and a 52-week high of $42.49. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $36.43.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 11th. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.54. Aramark had a return on equity of 14.06% and a net margin of 1.51%. The firm had revenue of $4.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.64 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Aramark will post 1.92 EPS for the current fiscal 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.01%. Aramark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.42%.

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.