Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) Given Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the eleven ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $43.91.

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on ARMK shares. UBS Group lifted their price target on Aramark from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $47.00 price target on shares of Aramark in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Wall Street Zen lowered Aramark from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, June 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Aramark from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday.

Institutional Trading of Aramark

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Aramark by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,497,580 shares of the company's stock worth $951,315,000 after acquiring an additional 178,147 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Aramark by 29.5% during the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 17,605,896 shares of the company's stock worth $607,756,000 after acquiring an additional 4,012,162 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake 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 worth $606,986,000 after acquiring an additional 554,239 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Management Inc. WI boosted its stake in shares of Aramark by 13.8% during the 1st quarter. Fiduciary Management Inc. WI now owns 13,037,630 shares of the company's stock worth $450,059,000 after acquiring an additional 1,582,890 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 1,940,214 shares during the period.

Aramark Price Performance

NYSE ARMK opened at $42.95 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.04 and a beta of 1.28. Aramark has a 1 year low of $29.92 and a 1 year high of $43.20. The business's fifty day moving average is $38.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.21.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $4.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.35 billion. Aramark had a return on equity of 15.07% and a net margin of 1.97%. The firm's revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.30 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Aramark will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aramark Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th were given a $0.105 dividend. This represents a $0.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.98%. Aramark's payout ratio is currently 32.31%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.