SG Americas Securities LLC Takes $937,000 Position in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 27,144 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $937,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Aramark by 93.0% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 770 shares of the company's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 371 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position in Aramark by 45.7% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 988 shares of the company's stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its position in Aramark by 167.2% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,424 shares of the company's stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 891 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Aramark during the fourth quarter worth about $72,000. Finally, Wealthfront Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Aramark during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $83,000.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ARMK. UBS Group increased their target price on Aramark from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $47.00 price objective on shares of Aramark in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Citigroup initiated coverage on Aramark in a report on Monday, February 24th. They set a "buy" rating and a $48.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Aramark from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Three 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 presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $43.73.

Aramark Price Performance

Shares of Aramark stock traded down $0.09 during trading on Friday, reaching $40.03. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,283,190 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,990,973. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $37.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.80 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02. Aramark has a one year low of $29.92 and a one year high of $42.49.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.01. Aramark had a net margin of 1.97% and a return on equity of 15.07%. The company had revenue of $4.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.30 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Aramark will post 1.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aramark Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th were given a $0.105 dividend. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.05%. Aramark's payout ratio is 32.31%.

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.