Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) Price Target Raised to $45.00

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) had its price target boosted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $41.00 to $45.00 in a report issued on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

ARMK has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Aramark from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Aramark from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Aramark from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Aramark from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $42.50 in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Aramark from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Three research 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 presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.23.

Aramark Trading Down 0.8 %

ARMK stock traded down $0.31 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $38.37. The stock had a trading volume of 54,298 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,215,129. The firm has a market cap of $10.11 billion, a PE ratio of 39.08 and a beta of 1.62. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $38.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $35.17. Aramark has a 12-month low of $26.58 and a 12-month high of $42.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 11th. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54. The firm had revenue of $4.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.46 billion. Aramark had a net margin of 1.51% and a return on equity of 14.06%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.64 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Aramark will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aramark Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a $0.001 dividend. This represents a $0.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.01%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. Aramark’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.38%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Aramark

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Aramark by 70.0% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,329,917 shares of the company’s stock worth $322,618,000 after buying an additional 3,430,131 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Aramark by 822.3% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,677,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,073,000 after acquiring an additional 1,495,737 shares in the last quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Aramark by 5.5% in the first quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 17,822,937 shares of the company’s stock worth $579,602,000 after purchasing an additional 923,683 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Aramark by 18.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,731,963 shares of the company’s stock worth $160,977,000 after acquiring an additional 720,738 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in shares of Aramark by 5.4% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 13,391,832 shares of the company’s stock worth $435,501,000 after acquiring an additional 681,735 shares during 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.