The Goldman Sachs Group Increases Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) Price Target to $41.00

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) had its price target raised by The Goldman Sachs Group from $38.00 to $41.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the stock.

Several other research firms also recently commented on ARMK. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Aramark from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Royal Bank of Canada raised Aramark from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $42.50 in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. UBS Group upped their target price on Aramark from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Aramark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $36.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Aramark from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $39.68.

Aramark Trading Up 1.7 %

NYSE ARMK opened at $39.67 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71. Aramark has a 1-year low of $25.92 and a 1-year high of $39.87. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $37.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $34.34. The company has a market capitalization of $10.43 billion, a PE ratio of 16.67 and a beta of 1.62.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $4.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.31 billion. Aramark had a return on equity of 14.09% and a net margin of 1.93%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.36 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Aramark will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aramark Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 19th were paid a dividend of $0.095 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. This represents a $0.38 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.96%. Aramark’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.97%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Aramark

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in Aramark by 131.8% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 97,167 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,160,000 after purchasing an additional 55,249 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Aramark by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,584,242 shares of the company’s stock valued at $718,917,000 after acquiring an additional 139,693 shares during the period. Leeward Investments LLC MA acquired a new position in Aramark during the second quarter worth $9,263,000. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Aramark during the first quarter valued at $1,739,000. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado boosted its stake in shares of Aramark by 19.1% in the 1st quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 810,174 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,347,000 after purchasing an additional 129,939 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.