Natixis Sells 115,300 Shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

Natixis cut its stake in shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) by 24.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 365,700 shares of the company’s stock after selling 115,300 shares during the period. Natixis owned about 0.14% of Aramark worth $11,893,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. 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 purchasing an additional 6,289 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aramark during the 1st quarter worth $249,000. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in shares of Aramark by 179.3% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,888 shares of the company’s stock worth $94,000 after purchasing an additional 1,854 shares during the period. Twin Tree Management LP raised its stake in shares of Aramark by 32.0% during the 1st quarter. Twin Tree Management LP now owns 1,424 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 345 shares during the period. Finally, Souders Financial Advisors raised its stake in shares of Aramark by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Souders Financial Advisors now owns 102,783 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,343,000 after purchasing an additional 6,371 shares during the period.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on ARMK. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Aramark from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Aramark from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Aramark from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $34.89.

Aramark Price Performance

ARMK stock traded down $0.12 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $33.09. 1,301,907 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,344,982. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The company has a market capitalization of $8.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.59. Aramark has a 52-week low of $23.95 and a 52-week high of $34.37. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $33.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.64.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $4.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.25 billion. Aramark had a return on equity of 13.82% and a net margin of 3.43%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Aramark will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Aramark Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th were given a dividend of $0.095 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. This represents a $0.38 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.15%. Aramark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.97%.

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.