Principal Financial Group Inc. Cuts Stake in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its position in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) by 30.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 610,020 shares of the company’s stock after selling 265,674 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.23% of Aramark worth $23,626,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Aramark by 7.2% in 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. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in Aramark in the 3rd quarter worth about $761,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in Aramark during the 3rd quarter valued at about $309,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Aramark by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,363,113 shares of the company’s stock valued at $169,028,000 after acquiring an additional 45,384 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp grew its stake in shares of Aramark by 5.5% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 16,206 shares of the company’s stock worth $628,000 after acquiring an additional 838 shares during the period.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on ARMK shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Aramark from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Royal Bank of Canada raised Aramark from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $36.00 to $42.50 in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Truist Financial increased their target price on Aramark from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Aramark from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Aramark from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.59.

Aramark Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of ARMK stock opened at $37.67 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.72. Aramark has a one year low of $27.47 and a one year high of $42.49. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $39.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.71. The company has a market capitalization of $9.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.05 and a beta of 1.63.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 11th. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.54. Aramark had a return on equity of 14.06% and a net margin of 1.51%. The business had revenue of $4.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.64 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Aramark will post 1.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aramark Cuts Dividend

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

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.