Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Boosts Holdings in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC grew its holdings in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK - Free Report) by 15.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,406,351 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 189,001 shares during the quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC owned approximately 0.53% of Aramark worth $52,471,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its position in shares of Aramark by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 53,654 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,002,000 after buying an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in Aramark by 45.7% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 988 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 310 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in Aramark by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 8,012 shares of the company's stock valued at $299,000 after acquiring an additional 391 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Aramark by 2.5% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 16,504 shares of the company's stock worth $643,000 after purchasing an additional 395 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amalgamated Bank increased its position in shares of Aramark by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 126,029 shares of the company's stock worth $4,702,000 after purchasing an additional 447 shares in the last quarter.

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Aramark Stock Performance

ARMK stock traded down $1.30 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $32.68. 920,944 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,092,108. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $35.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.59. The firm has a market cap of $8.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.77 and a beta of 1.37. Aramark has a 1-year low of $29.82 and a 1-year high of $42.49. 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 - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $4.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.61 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.41 EPS. Aramark's revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Aramark will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Aramark Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.29%. Aramark's dividend payout ratio is currently 33.07%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ARMK. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Aramark from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $47.00 price objective on shares of Aramark in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Aramark from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective 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. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on Aramark in a research note on Monday, February 24th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $48.00 target price for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Aramark currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $43.42.

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.