Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Morgan Stanley Analyst Says

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) had its price objective boosted by Morgan Stanley from $38.00 to $40.00 in a research note released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. StockNews.com upgraded Aramark from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Aramark from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $42.50 in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Aramark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Aramark from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Aramark from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.23.

Aramark Trading Down 3.4 %

NYSE ARMK opened at $37.36 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.74 and a beta of 1.62. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $35.20. Aramark has a 12 month low of $26.58 and a 12 month high of $42.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 11th. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54. The business had revenue of $4.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.46 billion. Aramark had a return on equity of 14.06% and a net margin of 1.51%. Aramark’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.64 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Aramark will post 1.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aramark Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a $0.001 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.01%. Aramark’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.38%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARMK. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in Aramark by 54.9% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 29,636 shares of the company’s stock worth $964,000 after purchasing an additional 10,505 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its stake in Aramark by 36.3% in the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 16,020 shares of the company’s stock worth $521,000 after purchasing an additional 4,265 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Aramark in the 1st quarter worth about $245,000. Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in Aramark by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 492,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,000,000 after purchasing an additional 2,800 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in Aramark by 15.2% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 93,574 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,043,000 after purchasing an additional 12,342 shares during the period.

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.