Artisan Partners Limited Partnership trimmed its position in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK - Free Report) by 8.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 431,532 shares of the company's stock after selling 39,196 shares during the quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership owned approximately 0.16% of Aramark worth $16,100,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Anthracite Investment Company Inc. lifted its position in shares of Aramark by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Anthracite Investment Company Inc. now owns 96,000 shares of the company's stock worth $3,582,000 after buying an additional 5,000 shares during the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Aramark in the 4th quarter valued at about $315,000. Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Aramark by 231.9% in the fourth quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 227,173 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,487,000 after buying an additional 158,717 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Aramark by 0.7% in the fourth 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 period. Finally, LPL Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Aramark by 23.2% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 52,811 shares of the company's stock worth $1,970,000 after acquiring an additional 9,934 shares during the last quarter.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ARMK. Morgan Stanley increased their target price 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 lifted their target price on Aramark from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Citigroup assumed coverage on 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 reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $47.00 price objective on shares of Aramark in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Aramark from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Aramark has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $43.42.
Read Our Latest Report on ARMK
Aramark Price Performance
Shares of NYSE:ARMK traded down $0.15 on Wednesday, hitting $34.89. The company had a trading volume of 283,489 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,048,853. 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 company has a market cap of $9.25 billion, a PE ratio of 27.47 and a beta of 1.60. Aramark has a 52-week low of $29.82 and a 52-week high of $42.49. The business has a 50 day moving average of $36.60 and a 200 day moving average of $37.90.
Aramark (NYSE:ARMK - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $4.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.61 billion. Aramark had a net margin of 1.94% and a return on equity of 14.72%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.41 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Aramark will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 paid a dividend of $0.105 per share. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This is a positive change from Aramark's previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. Aramark's dividend payout ratio is currently 33.07%.
Aramark Company Profile
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Free Report)
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.
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