Sigma Planning Corp Purchases 10,362 Shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

Sigma Planning Corp grew its stake in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK - Free Report) by 81.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 23,028 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 10,362 shares during the period. Sigma Planning Corp's holdings in Aramark were worth $859,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ARMK. Creative Planning lifted its holdings in shares of Aramark by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 7,771 shares of the company's stock worth $301,000 after acquiring an additional 716 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in shares of Aramark by 471.6% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 97,328 shares of the company's stock worth $3,770,000 after acquiring an additional 80,300 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Aramark by 601.4% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 50,697 shares of the company's stock worth $1,963,000 after acquiring an additional 43,469 shares during the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its holdings in shares of Aramark by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 30,550 shares of the company's stock worth $1,183,000 after acquiring an additional 2,075 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Aramark in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $202,000.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ARMK. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Aramark from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Aramark in a report on Monday, February 24th. They set a "buy" rating and a $48.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com lowered shares of Aramark from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Aramark from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $47.00 price target on shares of Aramark in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $43.42.

Aramark Trading Up 1.6 %

Aramark stock traded up $0.58 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $37.04. 1,624,511 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,081,713. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $37.79 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.16 and a beta of 1.64. Aramark has a 52-week low of $29.82 and a 52-week high of $42.49.

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

Aramark Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $0.105 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This is an increase from Aramark's previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.13%. Aramark's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.