Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.11

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, July 23rd, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 6th will be paid a dividend of 0.105 per share on Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.97%.

Aramark has a payout ratio of 18.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Aramark to earn $2.24 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.42 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 18.8%.

Aramark Stock Performance

NYSE ARMK traded down $0.81 on Thursday, hitting $43.34. 1,422,183 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,631,946. The business's fifty day moving average is $41.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.67. Aramark has a 12 month low of $29.92 and a 12 month high of $44.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.97 and a beta of 1.28. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.01. Aramark had a return on equity of 15.07% and a net margin of 1.97%. The business had revenue of $4.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.30 earnings per share. Aramark's revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Aramark will post 1.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Aramark

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Aramark stock. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK - Free Report) by 38.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 489,646 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 135,224 shares during the quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned approximately 0.19% of Aramark worth $16,903,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on ARMK. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Aramark from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, June 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $47.00 price objective on shares of Aramark in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Aramark from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Aramark from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $43.91.

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.