Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Increases Position in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its stake in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 53,654 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 276 shares during the quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Aramark were worth $2,002,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in Aramark in the 3rd quarter valued at about $716,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Aramark by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,570,938 shares of the company’s stock valued at $254,427,000 after acquiring an additional 441,711 shares during the last quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP grew its stake in Aramark by 15.9% in the 4th quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 259,364 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,677,000 after acquiring an additional 35,616 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 45,384 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Aramark by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,732,661 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,106,000 after acquiring an additional 14,839 shares during the last quarter.

Aramark Price Performance

ARMK opened at $37.04 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.94. Aramark has a 1 year low of $29.82 and a 1 year high of $42.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.82 billion, a PE ratio of 29.16 and a beta of 1.64.

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. As a group, sell-side analysts expect 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 issued a $0.105 dividend. This is a positive change from Aramark’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $0.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.13%. Aramark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.07%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ARMK has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Aramark in a research note on Monday, February 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $48.00 price target on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Aramark from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $47.00 price target on shares of Aramark in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com cut shares of Aramark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Aramark from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.42.

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.