34,957 Shares in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) Bought by Nomura Holdings Inc.

Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 34,957 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,304,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in 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 purchasing an additional 178,147 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in Aramark by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 16,268,682 shares of the company’s stock worth $606,986,000 after purchasing an additional 554,239 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in Aramark by 63.2% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,593,734 shares of the company’s stock worth $507,182,000 after purchasing an additional 5,263,817 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Management Inc. WI grew its position in Aramark by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Management Inc. WI now owns 11,454,740 shares of the company’s stock worth $427,376,000 after purchasing an additional 860,179 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Aramark by 29.5% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,511,152 shares of the company’s stock worth $317,551,000 after purchasing an additional 1,940,214 shares during the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on ARMK. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Aramark from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Aramark from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $47.00 price objective on shares of Aramark in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup began coverage on shares of Aramark in a report on Monday, February 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $48.00 price objective for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Aramark currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.33.

Aramark Trading Up 2.3%

Shares of ARMK stock opened at $39.23 on Friday. Aramark has a 12-month low of $29.92 and a 12-month high of $42.49. The company has a market capitalization of $10.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.89 and a beta of 1.20. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $34.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.01. Aramark had a net margin of 1.94% and a return on equity of 14.72%. The firm had revenue of $4.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.35 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.30 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Aramark will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aramark Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.105 per share. This represents a $0.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.07%. Aramark’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.31%.

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.