Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) Stock Price Down 1% – What’s Next?

Shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) were down 1% on Friday . The stock traded as low as $38.49 and last traded at $38.30. Approximately 177,098 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 91% from the average daily volume of 1,986,536 shares. The stock had previously closed at $38.68.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on ARMK shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $47.00 price objective on shares of Aramark in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Aramark from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com cut shares of Aramark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Aramark from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Aramark from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.00.

Aramark Stock Down 2.3 %

The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.92. The company has a market cap of $10.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.75 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.94.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $4.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.61 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.41 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Aramark will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given a $0.105 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.11%. This is a boost from Aramark’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. Aramark’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.07%.

Institutional Trading of Aramark

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Aramark by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,497,580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $951,315,000 after buying an additional 178,147 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in Aramark by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 15,714,443 shares of the company’s stock worth $608,619,000 after purchasing an additional 896,288 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted 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 worth $507,182,000 after purchasing an additional 5,263,817 shares during the period. Fiduciary Management Inc. WI boosted its stake in Aramark by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Management Inc. WI now owns 11,454,740 shares of the company’s stock worth $427,376,000 after purchasing an additional 860,179 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Aramark by 29.5% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,511,152 shares of the company’s stock worth $317,551,000 after purchasing an additional 1,940,214 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.