Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) Rating Increased to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Monday morning.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Aramark from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Aramark from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Aramark from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Aramark from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Aramark from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.59.

Aramark Stock Performance

Shares of ARMK stock opened at $37.31 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $39.00 and a 200 day moving average of $36.86. Aramark has a 1 year low of $27.47 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 firm has a market capitalization of $9.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.69 and a beta of 1.63.

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, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.54. Aramark had a return on equity of 14.06% and a net margin of 1.51%. The firm had revenue of $4.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.46 billion. During the same period last 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. As a group, research analysts expect that Aramark will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Aramark Cuts Dividend

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Aramark

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of ARMK. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in Aramark during the third quarter worth approximately $716,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake 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 worth $254,427,000 after acquiring an additional 441,711 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Aramark by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,363,113 shares of the company’s stock worth $169,028,000 after acquiring an additional 45,384 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of Aramark by 173.9% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,697 shares of the company’s stock valued at $221,000 after acquiring an additional 3,617 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Aramark by 0.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,732,661 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,106,000 after purchasing an additional 14,839 shares during the period.

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.