Quest Partners LLC Purchases 36,177 Shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

Quest Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK - Free Report) by 3,617,700.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 36,178 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 36,177 shares during the quarter. Quest Partners LLC's holdings in Aramark were worth $1,401,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sei Investments Co. raised its position in Aramark by 15.2% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 93,574 shares of the company's stock worth $3,043,000 after acquiring an additional 12,342 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in Aramark by 179.3% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,888 shares of the company's stock worth $94,000 after buying an additional 1,854 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Aramark during the first quarter worth about $249,000. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co raised its stake in shares of Aramark by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 205,714 shares of the company's stock worth $6,689,000 after buying an additional 6,289 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its position in Aramark by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,712,814 shares of the company's stock valued at $771,141,000 after purchasing an additional 98,506 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on ARMK shares. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Aramark from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Aramark from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Aramark from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Aramark from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $42.50 in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Aramark from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Aramark currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $42.23.

Aramark Trading Up 3.3 %

NYSE:ARMK traded up $1.26 on Wednesday, hitting $38.95. 2,225,506 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,224,717. Aramark has a 52 week low of $26.58 and a 52 week high of $42.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.34 and a beta of 1.62. 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's 50-day moving average price is $38.27 and its 200 day moving average price is $35.38.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 11th. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.54. The business had revenue of $4.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.46 billion. Aramark had a return on equity of 14.06% and a net margin of 1.51%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.64 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Aramark will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Aramark Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.001 per share. This represents a $0.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. 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.