AQR Capital Management LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK - Free Report) by 8.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 700,148 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 52,324 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC owned 0.26% of Aramark worth $26,123,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Aramark by 57.6% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 189,418 shares of the company's stock worth $7,336,000 after purchasing an additional 69,223 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of Aramark in the 3rd quarter worth $761,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 441,711 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Aramark by 29.9% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,297 shares of the company's stock valued at $160,000 after acquiring an additional 990 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Aramark in the fourth quarter valued at about $284,000.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on ARMK. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Aramark from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Aramark in a report on Monday, February 24th. They set a "buy" rating and a $48.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $47.00 price target on shares of Aramark in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Aramark from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aramark has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $43.33.

Aramark Price Performance

Shares of Aramark stock traded down $0.28 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $38.12. The company's stock had a trading volume of 789,799 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,067,004. The company has a market cap of $10.11 billion, a PE ratio of 30.02 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.94. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $33.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $36.91. Aramark has a 12-month low of $29.92 and a 12-month high of $42.49.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.01. Aramark had a return on equity of 14.72% and a net margin of 1.94%. The business had revenue of $4.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.30 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Aramark will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aramark Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th will be issued a $0.105 dividend. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.10%. Aramark's dividend payout ratio is currently 33.07%.

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.