Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Increases Stock Holdings in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) by 63.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 13,593,734 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 5,263,817 shares during the quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned approximately 0.05% of Aramark worth $507,182,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Citigroup Inc. raised its stake in shares of Aramark by 21.2% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 111,918 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,335,000 after acquiring an additional 19,606 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Aramark by 69.4% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 27,202 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,054,000 after buying an additional 11,144 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in shares of Aramark by 169.4% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 121,202 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,659,000 after buying an additional 76,214 shares during the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Aramark by 5.4% in the third quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 45,702 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,770,000 after buying an additional 2,329 shares during the period. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its stake in shares of Aramark by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 7,955 shares of the company’s stock worth $308,000 after acquiring an additional 662 shares during the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on ARMK shares. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Aramark from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Aramark in a research note on Monday, February 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $48.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective 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. 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. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Aramark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.42.

Aramark Stock Up 0.2 %

NYSE:ARMK opened at $35.11 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.65 and a beta of 1.60. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.88. Aramark has a fifty-two week low of $29.82 and a fifty-two week high of $42.49.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last released 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 period in the previous year, the company earned $0.41 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Aramark will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aramark Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 24th. Shareholders 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 boost from Aramark’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.20%. 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.