Hsbc Holdings PLC Raises Position in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its stake in shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK - Free Report) by 39.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 598,665 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 168,996 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned about 0.23% of Aramark worth $22,390,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of Aramark by 57.6% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 189,418 shares of the company's stock worth $7,336,000 after acquiring an additional 69,223 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Aramark in the 3rd quarter worth about $309,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in Aramark in the 3rd quarter valued at about $761,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted 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 buying an additional 441,711 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Aramark by 29.9% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,297 shares of the company's stock worth $160,000 after buying an additional 990 shares during the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on ARMK. StockNews.com lowered Aramark from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup assumed coverage on Aramark in a research note on Monday, February 24th. They set a "buy" rating and a $48.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $47.00 price target on shares of Aramark in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Aramark from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $43.08.

Aramark Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Aramark stock opened at $32.96 on Friday. The company's 50-day moving average price is $34.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.14. The company has a market cap of $8.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.95 and a beta of 1.37. Aramark has a 12-month low of $29.82 and a 12-month high of $42.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61.

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

Aramark Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 24th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.105 per share. This represents a $0.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.27%. 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.

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