Xponance Inc. Buys 1,202 Shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

Xponance Inc. grew its stake in shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 32,121 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,202 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Aramark were worth $903,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Aramark by 0.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,444,549 shares of the company’s stock worth $882,926,000 after acquiring an additional 152,572 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Aramark by 1.5% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 12,758,467 shares of the company’s stock worth $442,719,000 after acquiring an additional 186,969 shares in the last quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP boosted its stake in Aramark by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 3,982,858 shares of the company’s stock worth $111,918,000 after acquiring an additional 259,026 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Aramark by 60.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,969,594 shares of the company’s stock worth $137,745,000 after acquiring an additional 1,492,542 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Aramark by 0.5% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,146,885 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,497,000 after acquiring an additional 10,570 shares in the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on ARMK. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Aramark in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $33.00 price objective on the stock. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Aramark from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Aramark from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $33.00 target price on shares of Aramark in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.04.

Aramark Stock Down 0.7 %

ARMK opened at $32.34 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $31.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $29.19. Aramark has a twelve month low of $23.95 and a twelve month high of $33.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.53, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.48.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.05. Aramark had a net margin of 3.37% and a return on equity of 13.45%. The firm had revenue of $4.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.41 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Aramark will post 1.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Aramark Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.095 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 13th. This represents a $0.38 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.18%. Aramark’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.90%.

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.