Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $42.23.

ARMK has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Aramark from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Aramark from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Aramark from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $42.50 in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Aramark from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Aramark from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th.

Aramark Stock Performance

Shares of ARMK stock opened at $37.70 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.93 billion, a PE ratio of 38.08 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.72. Aramark has a one year low of $26.58 and a one year high of $42.04. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.33.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 11th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.54. The business had revenue of $4.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.46 billion. Aramark had a net margin of 1.51% and a return on equity of 14.06%. Aramark’s revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.64 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Aramark will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Aramark Cuts Dividend

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Aramark by 70.0% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,329,917 shares of the company’s stock valued at $322,618,000 after purchasing an additional 3,430,131 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in Aramark by 822.3% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,677,629 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,073,000 after purchasing an additional 1,495,737 shares in the last quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Aramark by 5.5% during the first quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 17,822,937 shares of the company’s stock valued at $579,602,000 after buying an additional 923,683 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in Aramark by 6.0% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 15,714,443 shares of the company’s stock valued at $608,619,000 after buying an additional 896,288 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Aramark by 18.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,731,963 shares of the company’s stock valued at $160,977,000 after buying an additional 720,738 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.