Truist Financial Lowers Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) to Hold

Truist Financial downgraded shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Wednesday morning, Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on the company. UBS Group upped their price target on Aramark from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Aramark from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Aramark from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Aramark from a hold rating to a buy rating and upped their price target for the company from $36.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on Aramark from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aramark has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $35.97.

Aramark Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE ARMK traded down $0.13 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $34.51. The company had a trading volume of 1,619,932 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,329,853. Aramark has a one year low of $23.95 and a one year high of $35.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $33.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $31.99. The stock has a market cap of $9.08 billion, a PE ratio of 14.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.59.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $4.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.31 billion. Aramark had a return on equity of 13.82% and a net margin of 3.43%. Aramark’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.36 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Aramark will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Aramark Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, August 19th will be paid a $0.095 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 19th. This represents a $0.38 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.10%. Aramark’s payout ratio is currently 15.97%.

Institutional Trading of Aramark

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in Aramark by 24.1% during the 4th quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 141,849 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,986,000 after purchasing an additional 27,522 shares during the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership boosted its stake in Aramark by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 391,727 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,008,000 after purchasing an additional 33,206 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its stake in Aramark by 84.7% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 1,192,142 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,498,000 after purchasing an additional 546,796 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in Aramark by 131.8% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 97,167 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,160,000 after purchasing an additional 55,249 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board purchased a new stake in Aramark during the 4th quarter valued at $75,477,000.

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.