Northern Trust Corp Trims Holdings in Aramark $ARMK

Key Points

• Northern Trust Corp has reduced its stake in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) by 1.8%, now owning 2,148,012 shares valued at approximately $74.15 million.
• Several institutional investors, including Raymond James and Dimensional Fund Advisors, have increased their positions in Aramark during the same quarter.
• Analysts have mixed ratings on Aramark, with target prices ranging from $44.00 to $47.00, indicating a generally positive outlook on the stock's performance.

Northern Trust Corp lowered its stake in shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK - Free Report) by 1.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,148,012 shares of the company's stock after selling 38,745 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned about 0.82% of Aramark worth $74,149,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Aramark by 29.5% during the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 17,605,896 shares of the company's stock worth $607,756,000 after purchasing an additional 4,012,162 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in Aramark by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 16,268,682 shares of the company's stock worth $606,986,000 after purchasing an additional 554,239 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Aramark by 16.3% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,762,907 shares of the company's stock worth $198,922,000 after purchasing an additional 809,792 shares in the last quarter. PointState Capital LP raised its holdings in Aramark by 135.4% during the fourth quarter. PointState Capital LP now owns 2,690,617 shares of the company's stock worth $100,387,000 after purchasing an additional 1,547,792 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Aramark by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,457,094 shares of the company's stock worth $91,674,000 after purchasing an additional 105,219 shares in the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ARMK has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Aramark from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $47.00 price objective on shares of Aramark in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Aramark from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $43.00 to $47.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Baird R W raised shares of Aramark from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, UBS Group set a $46.00 price objective on shares of Aramark and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $45.44.

Aramark Price Performance

NYSE:ARMK traded down $0.17 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $39.08. 956,091 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,506,743. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.29. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $41.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.11. Aramark has a 1 year low of $29.92 and a 1 year high of $44.49. The company has a market cap of $10.27 billion, a PE ratio of 28.95 and a beta of 1.22.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.40. Aramark had a net margin of 2.02% and a return on equity of 15.67%. The firm had revenue of $4.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.66 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.31 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. Aramark has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.910-1.980 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Aramark will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Aramark Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 6th were issued a $0.105 dividend. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 6th. Aramark's dividend payout ratio is 31.11%.

Aramark Company 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.