Westpac Banking Corp Invests $181,000 in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

Westpac Banking Corp bought a new stake in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 4,859 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $181,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Aramark by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,497,580 shares of the company’s stock worth $951,315,000 after buying an additional 178,147 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in Aramark by 63.2% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,593,734 shares of the company’s stock worth $507,182,000 after acquiring an additional 5,263,817 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Aramark by 29.5% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,511,152 shares of the company’s stock worth $317,551,000 after acquiring an additional 1,940,214 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Aramark by 1.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,363,113 shares of the company’s stock valued at $169,028,000 after purchasing an additional 45,384 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Aramark in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $88,949,000.

Aramark Price Performance

ARMK opened at $31.31 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.65 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61. Aramark has a 12-month low of $29.82 and a 12-month high of $42.49. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $36.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.80.

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

Aramark Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 24th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.105 dividend. This is an increase from Aramark’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.34%. Aramark’s payout ratio is 33.07%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.