Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Sells 117,085 Shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. trimmed its position in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) by 89.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 13,111 shares of the company’s stock after selling 117,085 shares during the quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Aramark were worth $489,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ARMK. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in shares of Aramark by 6.0% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 15,714,443 shares of the company’s stock worth $608,619,000 after buying an additional 896,288 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Aramark by 7.2% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,570,938 shares of the company’s stock valued at $254,427,000 after buying an additional 441,711 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Aramark by 1.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,363,113 shares of the company’s stock valued at $169,028,000 after buying an additional 45,384 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Aramark by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,746,871 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,176,000 after buying an additional 14,210 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in Aramark by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 723,090 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,978,000 after buying an additional 6,034 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on ARMK shares. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Aramark from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Aramark from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Aramark in a research report on Monday, February 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $48.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Aramark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $47.00 target price on shares of Aramark in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.42.

Aramark Stock Performance

NYSE ARMK opened at $34.45 on Friday. Aramark has a 1 year low of $29.82 and a 1 year high of $42.49. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $9.13 billion, a PE ratio of 27.13 and a beta of 1.60. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.05.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.03. Aramark had a net margin of 1.94% and a return on equity of 14.72%. The business had revenue of $4.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.61 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.41 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Aramark will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aramark Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.105 dividend. This is a positive change from Aramark’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.22%. Aramark’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.07%.

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.