Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) Receives $42.59 Average Target Price from Analysts

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $42.59.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on ARMK shares. Truist Financial upped their price target on Aramark from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Aramark from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $36.00 to $42.50 in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Aramark from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Aramark from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Aramark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Aramark

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Aramark during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $716,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 441,711 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Aramark by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,363,113 shares of the company’s stock valued at $169,028,000 after purchasing an additional 45,384 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 3,617 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Aramark by 0.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,732,661 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,106,000 after buying an additional 14,839 shares during the last quarter.

Aramark Price Performance

NYSE:ARMK opened at $36.85 on Thursday. 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 one year low of $28.30 and a one year high of $42.49. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $38.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.00. The stock has a market cap of $9.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.22 and a beta of 1.64.

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

Aramark Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. This represents a $0.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. Aramark’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.42%.

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.