Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC Cuts Position in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC reduced its stake in shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) by 33.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,247,986 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,617,638 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC owned approximately 2.73% of Aramark worth $270,422,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in Aramark by 45.7% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 988 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in shares of Aramark by 75.2% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,354 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 581 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Aramark by 167.2% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,424 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 891 shares during the period. Wealthfront Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Aramark in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $83,000. Finally, Quarry LP raised its holdings in Aramark by 1,322.0% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 2,972 shares of the company’s stock worth $115,000 after purchasing an additional 2,763 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ARMK has been the topic of several research reports. Citigroup assumed coverage on Aramark in a report on Monday, February 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $48.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their target price 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 research report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $47.00 price objective on shares of Aramark in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com cut 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 given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Aramark presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.42.

Aramark Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:ARMK opened at $34.16 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61. The firm has a market cap of $9.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.90 and a beta of 1.60. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $36.76 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.95. Aramark has a 12-month low of $29.82 and a 12-month high of $42.49.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $4.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.61 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.41 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Aramark will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Aramark Increases Dividend

The firm 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.23%. This is a boost from Aramark’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Aramark’s dividend payout ratio 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.