Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) Shares Down 0.1% – What’s Next?

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)’s share price dropped 0.1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $37.08 and last traded at $37.41. Approximately 253,223 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 87% from the average daily volume of 1,993,462 shares. The stock had previously closed at $37.46.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ARMK. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Aramark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped 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. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $47.00 target price on shares of Aramark in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. 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, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Aramark from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.00.

Aramark Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $38.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61. The company has a market capitalization of $9.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.57 and a beta of 1.64.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.61 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.41 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Aramark will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Aramark Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 24th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th will be issued a $0.105 dividend. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.12%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. This is a boost from Aramark’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. Aramark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.07%.

Institutional Trading of Aramark

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of ARMK. Truist Financial Corp increased its stake in Aramark by 20.1% during the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 8,961 shares of the company’s stock valued at $305,000 after buying an additional 1,497 shares during the period. CWM LLC increased its stake in Aramark by 112.6% during 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 period. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in Aramark by 360.1% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 773 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 605 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its stake in Aramark by 10.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 77,336 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,995,000 after buying an additional 7,498 shares during the period. Finally, Creative Planning increased its stake in Aramark by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 7,771 shares of the company’s stock valued at $301,000 after buying an additional 716 shares during the period.

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.