Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) Shares Bought by Banco Santander S.A.

Banco Santander S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) by 43.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 304,999 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 91,718 shares during the period. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in Aramark were worth $11,380,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Creative Planning boosted its stake in shares of Aramark by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 7,771 shares of the company’s stock valued at $301,000 after buying an additional 716 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. bought a new position in Aramark during the 3rd quarter valued at $408,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Aramark by 63.6% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 140,432 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,439,000 after acquiring an additional 54,580 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Aramark by 9.9% in the 3rd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 14,498 shares of the company’s stock worth $562,000 after purchasing an additional 1,303 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Aramark in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Aramark from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $47.00 target price on shares of Aramark in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Aramark from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Aramark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on shares of Aramark in a research note 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 assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.42.

Aramark Trading Up 1.2 %

Aramark stock opened at $35.95 on Friday. Aramark has a 52-week low of $29.82 and a 52-week high of $42.49. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $9.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.31 and a beta of 1.64. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $37.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.10.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last announced its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $4.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.61 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.41 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Aramark will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Aramark Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 24th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $0.105 dividend. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This is a positive change from Aramark’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. Aramark’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.07%.

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.