Aramark’s (ARMK) Outperform Rating Reiterated at Royal Bank of Canada

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by equities researchers at Royal Bank of Canada in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $47.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 23.47% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on ARMK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Aramark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Aramark from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Aramark from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Aramark currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.00.

Aramark Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of Aramark stock traded up $0.20 during trading on Thursday, hitting $38.07. 423,017 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,936,875. The stock has a market cap of $10.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.45 and a beta of 1.64. 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’s 50-day moving average price is $38.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $37.70. Aramark has a 12-month low of $28.51 and a 12-month high of $42.49.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.03. Aramark had a return on equity of 14.06% and a net margin of 1.51%. The business had revenue of $4.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.61 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.41 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Aramark will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Aramark by 70.0% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,329,917 shares of the company’s stock worth $322,618,000 after buying an additional 3,430,131 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in shares of Aramark by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 15,714,443 shares of the company’s stock valued at $608,619,000 after buying an additional 896,288 shares during the period. Point72 Europe London LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Aramark during the 3rd quarter worth $18,105,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position 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 buying an additional 441,711 shares during the period. Finally, Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd boosted its holdings in Aramark by 277.2% in the third quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd now owns 196,801 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,622,000 after acquiring an additional 144,625 shares during the last quarter.

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.