American Century Companies Inc. Sells 23,690 Shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

American Century Companies Inc. decreased its position in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK - Free Report) by 71.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,487 shares of the company's stock after selling 23,690 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.'s holdings in Aramark were worth $354,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. 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 buying an additional 441,711 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Aramark by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,363,113 shares of the company's stock worth $169,028,000 after purchasing an additional 45,384 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Aramark by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,746,871 shares of the company's stock worth $65,176,000 after purchasing an additional 14,210 shares during the period. iA Global Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Aramark by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 908,922 shares of the company's stock worth $33,912,000 after buying an additional 70,641 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers grew its position in shares of Aramark by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 723,090 shares of the company's stock valued at $26,978,000 after purchasing an additional 6,034 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on ARMK. StockNews.com lowered shares of Aramark from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $47.00 price objective on shares of Aramark in a report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Aramark from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Citigroup began coverage on Aramark in a research note on Monday, February 24th. They set a "buy" rating and a $48.00 price target for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $43.08.

Aramark Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE:ARMK traded up $0.20 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $32.18. 958,272 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,090,130. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.33 and a beta of 1.37. Aramark has a 12-month low of $29.82 and a 12-month high of $42.49. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $34.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $4.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.61 billion. Aramark had a net margin of 1.94% and a return on equity of 14.72%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.41 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Aramark will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Aramark Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.105 per share. This represents a $0.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. This is a boost from Aramark's previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Aramark's 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.