Legal & General Group Plc Sells 24,543 Shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its holdings in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) by 5.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 396,935 shares of the company’s stock after selling 24,543 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.15% of Aramark worth $14,810,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Aramark by 63.2% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,593,734 shares of the company’s stock worth $507,182,000 after purchasing an additional 5,263,817 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Aramark in the fourth quarter worth about $88,949,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 229,926 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter.

Aramark Stock Down 0.2 %

NYSE:ARMK opened at $32.62 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $35.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.45. Aramark has a 1-year low of $29.82 and a 1-year high of $42.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.68 and a beta of 1.37.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.61 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.41 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Aramark will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Aramark Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 1.29%. 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. Aramark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.07%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on ARMK shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Aramark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $47.00 target price on shares of Aramark in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup began coverage on Aramark in a research note on Monday, February 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $48.00 price target on the stock. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Aramark from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Aramark presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.