Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC Acquires New Position in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 111,946 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,177,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Aramark by 63.2% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,593,734 shares of the company's stock worth $507,182,000 after buying an additional 5,263,817 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Aramark in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $88,949,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Aramark by 29.5% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,511,152 shares of the company's stock worth $317,551,000 after buying an additional 1,940,214 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Management Inc. WI increased its stake in shares of Aramark by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Management Inc. WI now owns 11,454,740 shares of the company's stock worth $427,376,000 after purchasing an additional 860,179 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Aramark during the 4th quarter valued at $10,324,000.

Aramark Trading Up 1.5 %

Aramark stock traded up $0.49 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $33.58. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,915,765 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,084,791. Aramark has a one year low of $29.82 and a one year high of $42.49. The company has a 50 day moving average of $33.98 and a 200-day moving average of $37.01. The stock has a market cap of $8.90 billion, a PE ratio of 26.44 and a beta of 1.37. 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 - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.03. Aramark had a return on equity of 14.72% and a net margin of 1.94%. The company had revenue of $4.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.61 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.41 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Aramark will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Aramark Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.105 per share. This represents a $0.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.25%. Aramark's dividend payout ratio is currently 33.07%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.