Norges Bank Purchases Shares of 2,384,049 Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 2,384,049 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $88,949,000. Norges Bank owned about 0.90% of Aramark as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its holdings in shares of Aramark by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 53,654 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,002,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in shares of Aramark by 45.7% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 988 shares of the company's stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 310 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Aramark by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 8,012 shares of the company's stock worth $299,000 after acquiring an additional 391 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its stake in Aramark by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 16,504 shares of the company's stock valued at $643,000 after acquiring an additional 395 shares during the period. Finally, Amalgamated Bank lifted its holdings in Aramark by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 126,029 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,702,000 after purchasing an additional 447 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on ARMK. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Aramark from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Aramark from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Citigroup started coverage on Aramark in a report on Monday, February 24th. They set a "buy" rating and a $48.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $47.00 target price on shares of Aramark in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Aramark from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aramark currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $43.42.

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Aramark Price Performance

Aramark stock traded down $0.84 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $30.52. 3,837,503 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,098,433. 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 has a twelve month low of $29.82 and a twelve month high of $42.49. The company has a market cap of $8.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.03 and a beta of 1.37. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $36.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.74.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 1.94% and a return on equity of 14.72%. The business had revenue of $4.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.61 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.41 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Aramark will post 1.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aramark Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 24th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.105 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This is a positive change from Aramark's previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. This represents a $0.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.38%. Aramark's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.