Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 265,674 Shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its holdings in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) by 30.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 610,020 shares of the company’s stock after selling 265,674 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.23% of Aramark worth $23,626,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT increased its position in Aramark by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 69,987 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,381,000 after buying an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Aramark by 3.3% during the first quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,660 shares of the company’s stock valued at $347,000 after acquiring an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. Twin Tree Management LP raised its position in shares of Aramark by 32.0% during the first 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. Cadent Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Aramark by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Cadent Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,711 shares of the company’s stock worth $299,000 after purchasing an additional 349 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its position in Aramark by 7.7% in the 2nd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 7,356 shares of the company’s stock valued at $250,000 after purchasing an additional 523 shares during the period.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on ARMK shares. StockNews.com upgraded Aramark from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Aramark from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Aramark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $36.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Aramark from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Aramark from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.23.

Aramark Stock Up 2.8 %

ARMK stock opened at $39.10 on Thursday. Aramark has a twelve month low of $25.92 and a twelve month high of $42.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.30 billion, a PE ratio of 39.49 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $38.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $35.17.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 11th. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54. Aramark had a net margin of 1.51% and a return on equity of 14.06%. The firm had revenue of $4.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.64 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Aramark will post 1.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aramark Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.001 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.01%. Aramark’s payout ratio is presently 38.38%.

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.