Citigroup Inc. Buys 19,606 Shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

Citigroup Inc. grew its position in shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK - Free Report) by 21.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 111,918 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 19,606 shares during the quarter. Citigroup Inc.'s holdings in Aramark were worth $4,335,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ARMK. Raymond James Trust N.A. increased its stake in shares of Aramark by 83.2% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 13,770 shares of the company's stock worth $533,000 after purchasing an additional 6,255 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Aramark by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,732,661 shares of the company's stock worth $67,106,000 after purchasing an additional 14,839 shares during the last quarter. Banco Santander S.A. increased its stake in shares of Aramark by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 213,281 shares of the company's stock worth $8,260,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Aramark by 70.0% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,329,917 shares of the company's stock valued at $322,618,000 after buying an additional 3,430,131 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Anthracite Investment Company Inc. bought a new stake in Aramark during the 3rd quarter valued at $3,524,000.

Aramark Trading Up 2.0 %

NYSE ARMK traded up $0.79 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $41.00. 1,381,851 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,219,052. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $38.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $35.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.72. Aramark has a 12-month low of $26.58 and a 12-month high of $42.49. The firm has a market cap of $10.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.60 and a beta of 1.63.

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

Aramark Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.01%. Aramark's dividend payout ratio is currently 42.42%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ARMK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Aramark from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Aramark from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Aramark from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Aramark from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $36.00 to $42.50 in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Aramark from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Three research 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.com, Aramark has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $42.23.

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.