Renaissance Technologies LLC Purchases Shares of 276,700 Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 276,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,324,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its stake in Aramark by 45.7% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 988 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of Aramark by 75.2% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,354 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 581 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Aramark by 167.2% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,424 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 891 shares in the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC bought a new position in Aramark during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $83,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Aramark by 29.9% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,297 shares of the company’s stock valued at $160,000 after buying an additional 990 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ARMK has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com downgraded Aramark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Aramark in a research report on Monday, February 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $48.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $47.00 target price on shares of Aramark in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Aramark from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.08.

Aramark Trading Down 2.1 %

ARMK opened at $31.96 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.94. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $35.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.41. Aramark has a one year low of $29.82 and a one year high of $42.49. The stock has a market cap of $8.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.17 and a beta of 1.37.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.03. Aramark had a return on equity of 14.72% and a net margin of 1.94%. The company had revenue of $4.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.61 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.41 EPS. Aramark’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Aramark will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Aramark Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 24th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $0.105 per share. This is a positive change from Aramark’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.31%. Aramark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.07%.

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.