Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) Reaches New 12-Month High Following Analyst Upgrade

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $42.00 to $44.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Aramark traded as high as $42.68 and last traded at $42.57, with a volume of 362147 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $41.87.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on ARMK. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Aramark from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $47.00 price target on shares of Aramark in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Aramark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.91.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Aramark

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in Aramark by 45.7% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 988 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Aramark by 93.0% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 770 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 371 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC grew its position in Aramark by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 9,267 shares of the company’s stock valued at $320,000 after buying an additional 378 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in Aramark by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 26,504 shares of the company’s stock valued at $915,000 after buying an additional 438 shares during the period. Finally, Mariner LLC increased its stake in Aramark by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 15,029 shares of the company’s stock valued at $561,000 after buying an additional 444 shares during the period.

Aramark Price Performance

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02. The company has a market capitalization of $11.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.78 and a beta of 1.28.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.01. Aramark had a return on equity of 15.07% and a net margin of 1.97%. The firm had revenue of $4.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.30 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Aramark will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Aramark Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 14th were issued a dividend of $0.105 per share. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.99%. Aramark’s payout ratio is currently 32.31%.

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.