Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) Shares Sold by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its holdings in shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) by 5.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 396,935 shares of the company’s stock after selling 24,543 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Aramark were worth $14,810,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Aramark by 7.2% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,570,938 shares of the company’s stock worth $254,427,000 after acquiring an additional 441,711 shares during the period. Sarasin & Partners LLP lifted its stake in Aramark by 15.9% in the 4th quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 259,364 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,677,000 after buying an additional 35,616 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 310 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Aramark by 42.2% during the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 199,657 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,470,000 after buying an additional 59,225 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Aramark by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 17,067 shares of the company’s stock valued at $637,000 after acquiring an additional 563 shares during the last quarter.

Aramark Stock Performance

NYSE ARMK opened at $32.62 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $35.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61. The stock has a market cap of $8.65 billion, a PE ratio of 25.68 and a beta of 1.37. Aramark has a twelve month low of $29.82 and a twelve month high of $42.49.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $4.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.61 billion. Aramark had a net margin of 1.94% and a return on equity of 14.72%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.41 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Aramark will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Aramark Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.105 per share. This is a positive change from Aramark’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. This represents a $0.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Aramark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.07%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.