Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) Holdings Lowered by Nordea Investment Management AB

Nordea Investment Management AB decreased its stake in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) by 13.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 304,323 shares of the company’s stock after selling 48,140 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB’s holdings in Aramark were worth $11,406,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in shares of Aramark by 6.0% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 15,714,443 shares of the company’s stock worth $608,619,000 after buying an additional 896,288 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted 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 worth $322,618,000 after acquiring an additional 3,430,131 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Aramark by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,570,938 shares of the company’s stock worth $254,427,000 after acquiring an additional 441,711 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Aramark by 18.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,731,963 shares of the company’s stock valued at $160,977,000 after acquiring an additional 720,738 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Aramark by 1.1% in the 3rd 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 period.

Aramark Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ARMK opened at $36.83 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.81. Aramark has a 52 week low of $28.30 and a 52 week high of $42.49. The firm has a market cap of $9.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.20 and a beta of 1.64.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 11th. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54. Aramark had a net margin of 1.51% and a return on equity of 14.06%. The company had revenue of $4.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.46 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.64 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Aramark will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aramark Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a dividend of $0.001 per share. This represents a $0.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. Aramark’s dividend payout ratio is 42.42%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective 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 upgraded shares of Aramark from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $36.00 to $42.50 in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Aramark from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Aramark from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Aramark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.59.

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.