Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) Price Target Raised to $45.00

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) had its price objective upped by Stifel Nicolaus from $43.00 to $45.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the stock.

ARMK has been the subject of a number of other research reports. StockNews.com raised Aramark from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Aramark from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Aramark from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Aramark from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Aramark from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Aramark currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.23.

Aramark Stock Performance

ARMK stock traded down $0.31 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $38.37. 54,298 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,215,129. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $38.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $35.17. Aramark has a one year low of $26.58 and a one year high of $42.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.08 and a beta of 1.62.

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

Aramark Cuts Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of Aramark

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in shares of Aramark by 54.9% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 29,636 shares of the company’s stock valued at $964,000 after buying an additional 10,505 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 4,265 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Aramark in the 1st quarter worth $245,000. Swiss National Bank grew its position 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 last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in Aramark by 15.2% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 93,574 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,043,000 after buying an additional 12,342 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.