Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

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

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ARMK. 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 issued a "buy" rating and a $48.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective 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. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $47.00 price target on shares of Aramark in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded 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 NYSE ARMK traded down $0.08 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $34.08. 2,069,188 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,027,521. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.83 and a beta of 1.60. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $37.15 and a 200 day moving average of $38.04. Aramark has a 1 year low of $29.82 and a 1 year high of $42.49.

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

Aramark Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 24th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $0.105 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This is an increase from Aramark's previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.23%. Aramark's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.07%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Aramark

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARMK. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Aramark by 63.2% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,593,734 shares of the company's stock valued at $507,182,000 after buying an additional 5,263,817 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Aramark during the 4th quarter valued at $88,949,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Aramark by 29.5% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,511,152 shares of the company's stock valued at $317,551,000 after acquiring an additional 1,940,214 shares during the last quarter. PointState Capital LP lifted its position in shares of Aramark by 135.4% during the fourth quarter. PointState Capital LP now owns 2,690,617 shares of the company's stock worth $100,387,000 after purchasing an additional 1,547,792 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of Aramark by 6.0% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 15,714,443 shares of the company's stock valued at $608,619,000 after purchasing an additional 896,288 shares during the period.

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.