Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Has $52.47 Million Stock Holdings in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) by 15.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,406,351 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 189,001 shares during the period. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC’s holdings in Aramark were worth $52,471,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ARMK. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in shares of Aramark by 45.7% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 988 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in Aramark by 75.2% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,354 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 581 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its stake in Aramark by 167.2% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,424 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 891 shares in the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Aramark in the 4th quarter worth about $83,000. Finally, Quarry LP raised its stake in shares of Aramark by 1,322.0% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 2,972 shares of the company’s stock worth $115,000 after purchasing an additional 2,763 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. 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. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Aramark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Aramark from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Aramark from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $47.00 target price on shares of Aramark in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.42.

Aramark Price Performance

NYSE ARMK opened at $31.31 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.30 billion, a PE ratio of 24.65 and a beta of 1.60. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $36.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.94. Aramark has a twelve month low of $29.82 and a twelve month high of $42.49.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.03. Aramark had a return on equity of 14.72% and a net margin of 1.94%. The company had revenue of $4.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.61 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.41 earnings per share. Aramark’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Aramark will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Aramark Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.105 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.34%. This is a positive change from Aramark’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. Aramark’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.