Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) Shares Purchased by Barclays PLC

Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) by 89.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 358,462 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 169,044 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC’s holdings in Aramark were worth $13,374,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ARMK. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Aramark by 93.0% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 770 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 371 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in shares of Aramark by 45.7% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 988 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in Aramark by 75.2% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,354 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 581 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its position in Aramark by 167.2% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,424 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 891 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealthfront Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Aramark in the fourth quarter valued at $83,000.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ARMK has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Aramark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Aramark from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $47.00 price target on shares of Aramark in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on Aramark in a research report on Monday, February 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $48.00 price objective for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Aramark presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.08.

Aramark Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ARMK opened at $32.18 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.33 and a beta of 1.37. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.31. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $29.82 and a fifty-two week 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, 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.61 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.41 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.105 dividend. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.31%. This is a boost from Aramark’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Aramark’s payout ratio is presently 33.07%.

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.