Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC Sells 3,617,638 Shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC trimmed its holdings in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) by 33.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 7,247,986 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,617,638 shares during the quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC’s holdings in Aramark were worth $270,422,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of Aramark by 54.7% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 891,655 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,268,000 after buying an additional 315,401 shares during the last quarter. iSAM Funds UK Ltd bought a new position in Aramark during the fourth quarter valued at about $440,000. Vident Advisory LLC increased its stake in Aramark by 28.9% during the fourth quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 9,610 shares of the company’s stock valued at $359,000 after acquiring an additional 2,152 shares during the period. Sone Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Aramark in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $838,000. Finally, Sovereign s Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aramark in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,353,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on ARMK shares. Citigroup initiated coverage on Aramark in a report on Monday, February 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $48.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $47.00 target price on shares of Aramark in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Aramark from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Aramark from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. 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, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.33.

Aramark Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ARMK opened at $38.91 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $34.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.97. Aramark has a fifty-two week low of $29.92 and a fifty-two week high of $42.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.63 and a beta of 1.20.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $4.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.35 billion. Aramark had a net margin of 1.94% and a return on equity of 14.72%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.30 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Aramark will post 1.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aramark Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.105 per share. This represents a $0.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.08%. Aramark’s dividend payout ratio is 32.31%.

About Aramark

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.