Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $42.59.

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ARMK. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Aramark from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Aramark from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com lowered Aramark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Aramark from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Aramark from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $42.50 in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th.

Aramark Stock Performance

NYSE:ARMK opened at $36.83 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $9.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.20 and a beta of 1.64. Aramark has a fifty-two week low of $28.30 and a fifty-two week high of $42.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.81. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $38.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.96.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 11th. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.54. Aramark had a net margin of 1.51% and a return on equity of 14.06%. The company had revenue of $4.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.64 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Aramark will post 1.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aramark Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.001 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.01%. Aramark’s payout ratio is 42.42%.

Institutional Trading of Aramark

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Huntington National Bank lifted its position in shares of Aramark by 100.3% during the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 681 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 341 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in Aramark in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in shares of Aramark by 360.1% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 773 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 605 shares in the last quarter. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in shares of Aramark in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $52,000. Finally, CWM LLC grew its holdings in shares of Aramark by 112.6% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,822 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 965 shares in the last quarter.

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.