Amalgamated Bank Raises Stake in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

Amalgamated Bank increased its stake in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 126,029 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 447 shares during the quarter. Amalgamated Bank’s holdings in Aramark were worth $4,702,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in Aramark by 6.0% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 15,714,443 shares of the company’s stock valued at $608,619,000 after buying an additional 896,288 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Aramark by 70.0% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,329,917 shares of the company’s stock valued at $322,618,000 after purchasing an additional 3,430,131 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Aramark by 7.2% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,570,938 shares of the company’s stock worth $254,427,000 after purchasing an additional 441,711 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Aramark by 1.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,363,113 shares of the company’s stock valued at $169,028,000 after purchasing an additional 45,384 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Aramark by 0.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,732,661 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,106,000 after buying an additional 14,839 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Aramark from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Aramark from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Aramark from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $47.00 target price on shares of Aramark in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Aramark from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Three equities 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, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.42.

Aramark Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:ARMK opened at $36.47 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 $9.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.72 and a beta of 1.64. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $37.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.09. Aramark has a 12-month low of $29.82 and a 12-month high of $42.49.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last released its 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 analysts’ expectations of $4.61 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.41 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Aramark will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Aramark Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $0.105 per share. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.15%. This is an increase 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 presently 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.