Everence Capital Management Inc. Takes Position in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 7,620 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $284,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of Aramark in the third quarter valued at approximately $716,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Aramark by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,570,938 shares of the company’s stock valued at $254,427,000 after purchasing an additional 441,711 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Aramark by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,363,113 shares of the company’s stock worth $169,028,000 after buying an additional 45,384 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Aramark by 173.9% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,697 shares of the company’s stock valued at $221,000 after buying an additional 3,617 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Aramark by 0.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,732,661 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,106,000 after buying an additional 14,839 shares in the last quarter.

Aramark Trading Down 1.3 %

NYSE:ARMK opened at $36.22 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $9.59 billion, a PE ratio of 36.59 and a beta of 1.64. Aramark has a fifty-two week low of $28.30 and a fifty-two week high of $42.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $38.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.95.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 11th. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54. The firm had revenue of $4.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.46 billion. Aramark had a net margin of 1.51% and a return on equity of 14.06%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.64 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Aramark will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aramark Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a dividend of $0.001 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.01%. Aramark’s payout ratio is 42.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ARMK. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Aramark from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $36.00 to $42.50 in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Aramark from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Aramark from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Aramark from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on Aramark from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aramark currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.59.

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.