Legal & General Group Plc Cuts Stock Holdings in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its stake in shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK - Free Report) by 5.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 396,935 shares of the company's stock after selling 24,543 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.15% of Aramark worth $14,810,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Aramark by 63.2% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,593,734 shares of the company's stock worth $507,182,000 after buying an additional 5,263,817 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Aramark in the fourth quarter worth about $88,949,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Aramark by 29.5% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,511,152 shares of the company's stock valued at $317,551,000 after acquiring an additional 1,940,214 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Aramark by 24.6% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,163,577 shares of the company's stock worth $43,413,000 after acquiring an additional 229,926 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC raised its stake in Aramark by 15.5% during the 4th quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 1,406,351 shares of the company's stock worth $52,471,000 after acquiring an additional 189,001 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ARMK has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Aramark from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $47.00 target price on shares of Aramark in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Aramark in a research note on Monday, February 24th. They set a "buy" rating and a $48.00 target price for the company. Finally, StockNews.com cut Aramark from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Aramark currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $43.08.

Aramark Stock Down 2.2 %

NYSE:ARMK traded down $0.71 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $31.46. The company's stock had a trading volume of 41,645 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,077,597. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $34.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.94. Aramark has a 12 month low of $29.82 and a 12 month high of $42.49. The company has a market capitalization of $8.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.80 and a beta of 1.37.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.03. Aramark had a return on equity of 14.72% and a net margin of 1.94%. The business had revenue of $4.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.61 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.41 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Aramark will post 1.92 EPS 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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This is an increase from Aramark's previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.34%. Aramark's payout ratio is currently 33.07%.

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.