Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) Given Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the twelve ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and ten have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $43.42.

ARMK has been the subject of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $47.00 price target on shares of Aramark in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Aramark from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Aramark in a research note on Monday, February 24th. They set a "buy" rating and a $48.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Aramark from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Aramark from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th.

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Aramark Stock Performance

Shares of ARMK stock traded down $0.20 on Tuesday, reaching $34.16. The stock had a trading volume of 1,343,976 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,102,010. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.94. Aramark has a 1 year low of $29.82 and a 1 year high of $42.49. The stock has a market cap of $9.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.90 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $36.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.97.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.03. Aramark had a net margin of 1.94% and a return on equity of 14.72%. The company had revenue of $4.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.61 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.41 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Aramark will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Aramark Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $0.105 per share. This represents a $0.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This is a boost from Aramark's previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. Aramark's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.07%.

Institutional Trading of Aramark

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Aramark by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 6,788 shares of the company's stock worth $253,000 after purchasing an additional 465 shares during the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of Aramark in the 4th quarter worth $1,874,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of Aramark by 54.7% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 891,655 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,268,000 after buying an additional 315,401 shares in the last quarter. iSAM Funds UK Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Aramark during the 4th quarter valued at about $440,000. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC grew its position in Aramark by 28.9% in the fourth quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 9,610 shares of the company's stock worth $359,000 after acquiring an additional 2,152 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.