Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Makes New $3.34 Million Investment in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 89,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,337,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its position in Aramark by 9.1% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 7,955 shares of the company’s stock worth $308,000 after purchasing an additional 662 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Aramark by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 16,504 shares of the company’s stock worth $643,000 after buying an additional 395 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in Aramark in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $716,000. Barclays PLC raised its stake in Aramark by 57.6% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 189,418 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,336,000 after acquiring an additional 69,223 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp raised its stake in Aramark by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 16,206 shares of the company’s stock valued at $628,000 after acquiring an additional 838 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on ARMK shares. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Aramark from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Aramark in a research note on Monday, February 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $48.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Aramark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Aramark from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $47.00 target price on shares of Aramark in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.42.

Aramark Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE:ARMK opened at $30.36 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $35.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.91 and a beta of 1.37. Aramark has a 1-year low of $29.82 and a 1-year high of $42.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $4.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.61 billion. Aramark had a net margin of 1.94% and a return on equity of 14.72%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.41 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Aramark will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Aramark Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $0.105 dividend. This represents a $0.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This is a boost from Aramark’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. Aramark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.