Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Acquires 5,263,817 Shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK - Free Report) by 63.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,593,734 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 5,263,817 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned 5.13% of Aramark worth $507,182,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Aramark in the fourth quarter worth $88,949,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Aramark by 29.5% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,511,152 shares of the company's stock valued at $317,551,000 after buying an additional 1,940,214 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Aramark by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,497,580 shares of the company's stock worth $951,315,000 after acquiring an additional 178,147 shares in the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Aramark by 231.9% during the 4th 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. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Aramark in the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,979,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Aramark in a research report on Monday, February 24th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $48.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Aramark from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com cut Aramark from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $47.00 target price on shares of Aramark in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Aramark from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Aramark currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $43.42.

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Aramark Trading Down 2.4 %

NYSE ARMK traded down $0.76 on Monday, reaching $30.61. The company had a trading volume of 1,569,601 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,089,749. The business has a 50 day moving average of $36.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.80. Aramark has a fifty-two week low of $29.82 and a fifty-two week high of $42.49. The firm has a market cap of $8.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.06 and a beta of 1.37. 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 data 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. The firm 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 business's quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.41 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Aramark will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Aramark Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 24th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.105 dividend. 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 dividend yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Aramark's payout ratio is 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.