Schroder Investment Management Group Sells 1,241,659 Shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

Schroder Investment Management Group lowered its stake in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) by 33.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,429,883 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,241,659 shares during the quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group owned approximately 0.92% of Aramark worth $90,513,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Aramark in the fourth quarter worth $88,949,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in Aramark by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 15,714,443 shares of the company’s stock worth $608,619,000 after acquiring an additional 896,288 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Aramark by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,570,938 shares of the company’s stock valued at $254,427,000 after acquiring an additional 441,711 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Aramark by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,497,580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $951,315,000 after acquiring an additional 178,147 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Aramark by 231.9% during the fourth quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 227,173 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,487,000 after purchasing an additional 158,717 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ARMK has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Aramark from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Aramark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Aramark from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $47.00 price objective on shares of Aramark in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on Aramark in a report on Monday, February 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $48.00 price objective on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Aramark presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.42.

Aramark Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE:ARMK opened at $34.16 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.90 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61. The company has a fifty day moving average of $36.76 and a 200 day moving average of $37.95. Aramark has a 52 week low of $29.82 and a 52 week high of $42.49.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.03. Aramark had a net margin of 1.94% and a return on equity of 14.72%. The company had revenue of $4.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.61 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.41 earnings per share. Aramark’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict 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 paid a dividend of $0.105 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This is a boost from Aramark’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. This represents a $0.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.23%. Aramark’s payout ratio is 33.07%.

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.