Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) Shares Up 0.5% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) traded up 0.5% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $38.22 and last traded at $38.06. 167,484 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 92% from the average session volume of 2,001,528 shares. The stock had previously closed at $37.88.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ARMK has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Aramark from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Aramark from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Aramark from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Aramark from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Aramark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.00.

Aramark Stock Down 2.3 %

The stock has a 50-day moving average of $38.26 and a 200-day moving average of $37.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The firm has a market cap of $10.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.75 and a beta of 1.64.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $4.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.61 billion. Aramark had a return on equity of 14.72% and a net margin of 1.94%. Aramark’s revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.41 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Aramark will post 1.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aramark Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 24th. Stockholders 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 is a boost from Aramark’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. This represents a $0.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.11%. Aramark’s payout ratio is presently 33.07%.

Institutional Trading of Aramark

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Aramark by 63.2% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Aramark during the 4th quarter worth $88,949,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Aramark by 29.5% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,511,152 shares of the company’s stock worth $317,551,000 after buying an additional 1,940,214 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in Aramark by 6.0% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 15,714,443 shares of the company’s stock valued at $608,619,000 after buying an additional 896,288 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Management Inc. WI grew its position in Aramark by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Management Inc. WI now owns 11,454,740 shares of the company’s stock valued at $427,376,000 after acquiring an additional 860,179 shares during the last quarter.

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.