9,815 Shares in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) Bought by Farringdon Capital Ltd.

Farringdon Capital Ltd. purchased a new stake in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 9,815 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $366,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ARMK. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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. Sarasin & Partners LLP lifted its stake in shares of Aramark by 15.9% during the fourth quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 259,364 shares of the company's stock valued at $9,677,000 after buying an additional 35,616 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in shares of Aramark by 45.7% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 988 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 310 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Aramark by 42.2% during the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 199,657 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,470,000 after buying an additional 59,225 shares during the period. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in Aramark by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 17,067 shares of the company's stock worth $637,000 after buying an additional 563 shares during the period.

Aramark Stock Performance

ARMK traded up $0.19 during trading on Thursday, reaching $33.16. 551,580 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,112,576. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $34.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.20. The company has a market capitalization of $8.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.11 and a beta of 1.37. Aramark has a fifty-two week low of $29.82 and a fifty-two week high of $42.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 period in the prior year, the company posted $0.41 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Aramark will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aramark Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $0.105 per share. This is a positive change 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 dividend yield of 1.27%. Aramark's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.07%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ARMK. StockNews.com lowered shares of Aramark from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup began coverage on Aramark in a research note on Monday, February 24th. They set a "buy" rating and a $48.00 target price for the company. UBS Group reduced their price target on Aramark from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $47.00 price objective on shares of Aramark in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Three investment 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, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $43.08.

Aramark 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.