Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) Receives “Outperform” Rating from Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada restated their outperform rating on shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) in a research note published on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a $47.00 price target on the stock.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. UBS Group lifted their target price on Aramark from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Aramark from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on Aramark in a research report on Monday, February 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $48.00 price target for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aramark presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.33.

Aramark Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of ARMK opened at $38.92 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market cap of $10.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.65 and a beta of 1.20. Aramark has a fifty-two week low of $29.92 and a fifty-two week high of $42.49. The business has a 50-day moving average of $34.15 and a 200 day moving average of $36.91.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $4.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.35 billion. Aramark had a return on equity of 14.72% and a net margin of 1.94%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.30 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Aramark will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Aramark Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 14th will be given a $0.105 dividend. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.08%. Aramark’s payout ratio is 32.31%.

Institutional Trading of Aramark

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sarasin & Partners LLP lifted its position in Aramark by 15.9% in the 4th quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 259,364 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,677,000 after buying an additional 35,616 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in Aramark by 45.7% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 988 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 310 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Aramark by 42.2% in the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 199,657 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,470,000 after buying an additional 59,225 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in Aramark by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 17,067 shares of the company’s stock worth $637,000 after purchasing an additional 563 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in Aramark by 14.6% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 26,066 shares of the company’s stock worth $973,000 after purchasing an additional 3,312 shares during the period.

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.