Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eleven brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $43.00.

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ARMK. StockNews.com cut shares of Aramark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Aramark from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Aramark from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Aramark from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Aramark from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th.

Aramark Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of Aramark stock opened at $38.07 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.70. Aramark has a 12-month low of $28.51 and a 12-month high of $42.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The stock has a market cap of $10.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.45 and a beta of 1.64.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.03. Aramark had a net margin of 1.51% and a return on equity of 14.06%. The business had revenue of $4.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.61 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.41 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Aramark will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aramark Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be given a dividend of $0.105 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.10%. This is an increase from Aramark’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. Aramark’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.42%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Aramark

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in shares of Aramark by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 15,714,443 shares of the company’s stock valued at $608,619,000 after purchasing an additional 896,288 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Aramark by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,570,938 shares of the company’s stock valued at $254,427,000 after purchasing an additional 441,711 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Aramark by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,363,113 shares of the company’s stock valued at $169,028,000 after purchasing an additional 45,384 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Aramark by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,746,871 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,176,000 after purchasing an additional 14,210 shares in the last quarter.

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.