Brokerages Set Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) PT at $42.59

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $42.59.

Several research firms have commented on ARMK. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Aramark from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Aramark from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Aramark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Aramark from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th.

Aramark Stock Up 2.9 %

ARMK stock opened at $39.31 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.71 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a 50-day moving average of $38.82 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.72. Aramark has a 52-week low of $28.30 and a 52-week high of $42.49.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 11th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.54. The company had revenue of $4.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.46 billion. Aramark had a net margin of 1.51% and a return on equity of 14.06%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.64 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate 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. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were given 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 yield of 0.01%. Aramark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.42%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Aramark

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Huntington National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Aramark by 100.3% in the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 681 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 341 shares during the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Aramark during the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of Aramark by 360.1% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 773 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 605 shares in the last quarter. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in Aramark during the 3rd quarter worth $52,000. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its position in Aramark by 112.6% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,822 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,000 after buying an additional 965 shares during 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.