UBS Group Cuts Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) Price Target to $40.00

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) had its target price cut by analysts at UBS Group from $45.00 to $40.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. UBS Group’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 23.93% from the company’s current price.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Aramark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $47.00 target price on shares of Aramark in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Aramark from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Aramark from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on Aramark in a research report on Monday, February 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $48.00 target price for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aramark has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.08.

Aramark Trading Down 1.6 %

NYSE ARMK traded down $0.54 during trading on Friday, hitting $32.28. The stock had a trading volume of 200,565 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,092,376. Aramark has a one year low of $29.82 and a one year high of $42.49. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.45 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.94.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last issued 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. The firm had revenue of $4.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.61 billion. Aramark had a return on equity of 14.72% and a net margin of 1.94%. Aramark’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.41 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Aramark will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Aramark

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Aramark by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,497,580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $951,315,000 after acquiring an additional 178,147 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Aramark by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 16,268,682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $606,986,000 after purchasing an additional 554,239 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Fiduciary Management Inc. WI grew its stake in Aramark by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Management Inc. WI now owns 11,454,740 shares of the company’s stock worth $427,376,000 after buying an additional 860,179 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Aramark by 29.5% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,511,152 shares of the company’s stock valued at $317,551,000 after buying an additional 1,940,214 shares in 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.