Sepio Capital LP Trims Stock Holdings in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

Sepio Capital LP cut its holdings in shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) by 8.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 36,397 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,383 shares during the period. Sepio Capital LP’s holdings in Aramark were worth $1,358,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ARMK. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Aramark by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 432,780 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,147,000 after purchasing an additional 12,550 shares during the period. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC lifted its stake in shares of Aramark by 15.5% in the 4th quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 1,406,351 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,471,000 after acquiring an additional 189,001 shares during the period. Riverwater Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Aramark by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 27,249 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,017,000 after acquiring an additional 2,393 shares during the period. Westpac Banking Corp acquired a new stake in Aramark in the fourth quarter valued at about $181,000. Finally, Nicolet Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Aramark by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 8,314 shares of the company’s stock valued at $307,000 after buying an additional 827 shares during the period.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ARMK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com cut Aramark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $47.00 price target on shares of Aramark in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Aramark in a research note on Monday, February 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $48.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Aramark from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Aramark from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Aramark presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.42.

Aramark Stock Performance

Aramark stock opened at $31.31 on Monday. Aramark has a fifty-two week low of $29.82 and a fifty-two week high of $42.49. The company has a market capitalization of $8.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.65 and a beta of 1.37. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $36.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.94.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.03. Aramark had a net margin of 1.94% and a return on equity of 14.72%. The firm had revenue of $4.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.61 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.41 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Aramark will post 1.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aramark Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.105 dividend. This is a boost from Aramark’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. This represents a $0.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Aramark’s payout ratio is presently 33.07%.

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.