Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) Shares Up 3.5% - Time to Buy?

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK - Get Free Report)'s stock price traded up 3.5% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $37.36 and last traded at $37.17. 225,306 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 89% from the average session volume of 2,021,818 shares. The stock had previously closed at $35.93.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ARMK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Aramark from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Aramark from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Truist Financial increased 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 reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $47.00 price objective on shares of Aramark in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Aramark from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $43.42.

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Aramark Trading Down 0.1 %

The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61. The business has a 50 day moving average of $37.82 and a 200-day moving average of $38.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.91 and a beta of 1.64.

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

Aramark Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.105 per share. This is a boost from Aramark's previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. This represents a $0.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Aramark's dividend payout ratio is currently 33.07%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Aramark

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ARMK. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Aramark by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,497,580 shares of the company's stock valued at $951,315,000 after purchasing an additional 178,147 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in Aramark by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 16,268,682 shares of the company's stock valued at $606,986,000 after purchasing an additional 554,239 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Aramark by 63.2% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Fiduciary Management Inc. WI lifted its position in Aramark by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Management Inc. WI now owns 11,454,740 shares of the company's stock worth $427,376,000 after buying an additional 860,179 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Aramark by 29.5% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,511,152 shares of the company's stock worth $317,551,000 after buying an additional 1,940,214 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.