Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) Position Increased by Riverwater Partners LLC

Riverwater Partners LLC raised its stake in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) by 9.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 27,249 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,393 shares during the period. Riverwater Partners LLC’s holdings in Aramark were worth $1,017,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ARMK. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Aramark by 63.2% during the fourth 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 period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Aramark during the 4th quarter worth about $88,949,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Aramark by 29.5% during the fourth 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. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Aramark by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,497,580 shares of the company’s stock worth $951,315,000 after buying an additional 178,147 shares during the period. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Aramark by 231.9% in the fourth quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 227,173 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,487,000 after acquiring an additional 158,717 shares in the last quarter.

Aramark Trading Down 7.9 %

Aramark stock opened at $31.31 on Friday. Aramark has a one year low of $29.82 and a one year high of $42.49. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $36.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.80. The company has a market capitalization of $8.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.65 and a beta of 1.60. 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) last issued 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. The business had revenue of $4.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.61 billion. Aramark had a return on equity of 14.72% and a net margin of 1.94%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.41 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Aramark will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aramark Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.105 per share. This is a positive change from Aramark’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.34%. Aramark’s payout ratio is currently 33.07%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on ARMK shares. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Aramark from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Aramark from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com downgraded Aramark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note 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 report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Citigroup began coverage on shares of Aramark in a report on Monday, February 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $48.00 price target for the company. Three 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.com, Aramark currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.42.

About Aramark

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.