Wealthfront Advisers LLC Purchases New Position in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

Wealthfront Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,213 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $83,000.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of ARMK. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Aramark by 70.0% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,329,917 shares of the company’s stock worth $322,618,000 after purchasing an additional 3,430,131 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in Aramark by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 15,714,443 shares of the company’s stock worth $608,619,000 after purchasing an additional 896,288 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Europe London LLP bought a new stake in Aramark during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $18,105,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased 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 worth $254,427,000 after purchasing an additional 441,711 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd increased its stake in Aramark by 277.2% during the 3rd quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd now owns 196,801 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,622,000 after purchasing an additional 144,625 shares in the last quarter.

Aramark Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of Aramark stock opened at $36.03 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.11. Aramark has a 1 year low of $29.82 and a 1 year high of $42.49. The company has a market capitalization of $9.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.37 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

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

Aramark Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $0.105 per share. This is an increase from Aramark’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $0.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.17%. Aramark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.07%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Aramark in a research note on Monday, February 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $48.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $47.00 price target on shares of Aramark in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Aramark from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Aramark from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Aramark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Three 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, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.42.

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.