Hsbc Holdings PLC Grows Holdings in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its stake in shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) by 39.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 598,665 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 168,996 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in Aramark were worth $22,390,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC raised its position in Aramark by 57.6% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 189,418 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,336,000 after purchasing an additional 69,223 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Aramark during the 3rd quarter valued at about $309,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in Aramark in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $761,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 441,711 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew 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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Aramark Stock Performance

NYSE:ARMK opened at $32.96 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $34.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.14. The stock has a market cap of $8.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.95 and a beta of 1.37. Aramark has a twelve month low of $29.82 and a twelve month high of $42.49.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.03. Aramark had a net margin of 1.94% and a return on equity of 14.72%. The firm had revenue of $4.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.61 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.41 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Aramark will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Aramark Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.105 dividend. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This is a boost from Aramark’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. Aramark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.