EntryPoint Capital LLC Buys Shares of 8,454 Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 8,454 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $315,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ARMK. Prudential Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Aramark by 231.9% in the fourth quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 227,173 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,487,000 after purchasing an additional 158,717 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Aramark by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,497,580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $951,315,000 after buying an additional 178,147 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC increased its holdings in Aramark by 23.2% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 52,811 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,970,000 after buying an additional 9,934 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in Aramark in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,936,000. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Aramark by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 908,922 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,912,000 after acquiring an additional 70,641 shares during the period.

Aramark Stock Performance

Aramark stock opened at $34.35 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $36.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.97. 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 company has a market cap of $9.11 billion, a PE ratio of 27.04 and a beta of 1.60. Aramark has a twelve month low of $29.82 and a twelve month high of $42.49.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) 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 return on equity of 14.72% and a net margin of 1.94%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.41 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Aramark will post 1.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aramark Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 24th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $0.105 per share. This represents a $0.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.22%. This is an increase from Aramark’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Aramark’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.07%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ARMK has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com downgraded Aramark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Aramark from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $47.00 price objective on shares of Aramark in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Aramark from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on Aramark in a research report on Monday, February 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $48.00 target price for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Aramark currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.42.

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.