American Century Companies Inc. Purchases 6,298 Shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) by 35.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,137 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,298 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Aramark were worth $821,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Aramark Stock Down 1.5 %

Aramark stock opened at $38.14 on Wednesday. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $23.95 and a fifty-two week high of $38.99. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $35.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $33.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.98 and a beta of 1.62.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $4.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.31 billion. Aramark had a net margin of 1.93% and a return on equity of 14.09%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.36 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Aramark will post 1.56 EPS for the current year.

Aramark Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th were issued a $0.095 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 19th. This represents a $0.38 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.00%. Aramark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.97%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Aramark from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $42.50 in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Aramark from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Aramark from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Aramark from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Aramark from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.36.

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.