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

Shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $42.59.

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on ARMK shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Aramark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on 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 Aramark from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” 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 raised their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $42.50 in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Aramark from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ARMK. Arizona State Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Aramark by 2.0% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 69,825 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,375,000 after purchasing an additional 1,345 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aramark during the 2nd quarter valued at about $211,000. Choreo LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Aramark during the 2nd quarter valued at about $229,000. AdvisorShares Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Aramark by 33.6% in the 2nd quarter. AdvisorShares Investments LLC now owns 4,370 shares of the company’s stock worth $145,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Aramark by 35.3% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 24,137 shares of the company’s stock worth $821,000 after buying an additional 6,298 shares during the last quarter.

Aramark Stock Performance

Shares of ARMK opened at $36.83 on Thursday. Aramark has a 1 year low of $28.30 and a 1 year high of $42.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $38.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.96. The firm has a market cap of $9.76 billion, a PE ratio of 37.20 and a beta of 1.64.

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

Aramark Cuts Dividend

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

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.