Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Grows Stock Position in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) by 18.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,731,963 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 720,738 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 1.80% of Aramark worth $160,977,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Aramark by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,660 shares of the company’s stock valued at $347,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. Twin Tree Management LP increased its stake in shares of Aramark by 32.0% in the 1st quarter. Twin Tree Management LP now owns 1,424 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 345 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Aramark by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 19,540 shares of the company’s stock valued at $635,000 after purchasing an additional 432 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Aramark by 7.7% in the 2nd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 7,356 shares of the company’s stock valued at $250,000 after purchasing an additional 523 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OLD National Bancorp IN increased its stake in shares of Aramark by 6.8% in the 2nd quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 11,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $376,000 after purchasing an additional 708 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ARMK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Aramark from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Aramark from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Aramark from $37.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Aramark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $36.00 to $39.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Aramark from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.36.

Aramark Trading Down 3.0 %

Shares of Aramark stock opened at $37.75 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $9.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.62. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $35.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.42. Aramark has a 1-year low of $23.95 and a 1-year high of $38.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $4.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.31 billion. Aramark had a net margin of 1.93% and a return on equity of 14.09%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.36 EPS. Analysts predict that Aramark will post 1.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aramark Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th were given a dividend of $0.095 per share. This represents a $0.38 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. Aramark’s payout ratio is presently 15.97%.

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.