Optiver Holding B.V. Reduces Holdings in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

Optiver Holding B.V. lessened its position in shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) by 46.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 721 shares of the company’s stock after selling 624 shares during the quarter. Optiver Holding B.V.’s holdings in Aramark were worth $27,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised 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 valued at $507,182,000 after purchasing an additional 5,263,817 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Aramark in the 4th quarter valued at about $88,949,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Aramark by 29.5% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,511,152 shares of the company’s stock valued at $317,551,000 after buying an additional 1,940,214 shares during the period. Fiduciary Management Inc. WI lifted its position in Aramark by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Management Inc. WI now owns 11,454,740 shares of the company’s stock valued at $427,376,000 after buying an additional 860,179 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Aramark during the fourth quarter worth about $10,324,000.

Aramark Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:ARMK opened at $33.06 on Wednesday. Aramark has a 52 week low of $29.82 and a 52 week high of $42.49. The company’s 50 day moving average is $34.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.07. The company has a market cap of $8.76 billion, a PE ratio of 26.03 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $4.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.61 billion. Aramark had a return on equity of 14.72% and a net margin of 1.94%. Aramark’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.41 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Aramark will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.