Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Boosts Holdings in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) by 1.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 26,504 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 438 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Aramark were worth $915,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in Aramark by 63.2% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,593,734 shares of the company’s stock worth $507,182,000 after purchasing an additional 5,263,817 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Aramark in the 4th quarter worth $88,949,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Aramark by 29.5% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,511,152 shares of the company’s stock worth $317,551,000 after buying an additional 1,940,214 shares during the last quarter. PointState Capital LP raised its position in shares of Aramark by 135.4% during the 4th quarter. PointState Capital LP now owns 2,690,617 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,387,000 after buying an additional 1,547,792 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Management Inc. WI lifted its holdings in shares of Aramark by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Management Inc. WI now owns 11,454,740 shares of the company’s stock valued at $427,376,000 after acquiring an additional 860,179 shares during the last quarter.

Aramark Price Performance

Aramark stock opened at $42.79 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The stock has a market cap of $11.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.92 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $39.28 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.14. Aramark has a 1 year low of $29.92 and a 1 year high of $43.20.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $4.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.35 billion. Aramark had a return on equity of 15.07% and a net margin of 1.97%. Aramark’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.30 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Aramark will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Aramark Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th were issued a dividend of $0.105 per share. This represents a $0.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.98%. Aramark’s payout ratio is 32.31%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ARMK. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Aramark from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Wall Street Zen lowered Aramark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, June 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $47.00 price objective on shares of Aramark in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Aramark from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.91.

Aramark Company 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.