Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) Shares Gap Down – What’s Next?

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $35.68, but opened at $34.37. Aramark shares last traded at $34.31, with a volume of 249,887 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ARMK. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Aramark in a research report on Monday, February 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $48.00 price objective on the stock. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Aramark from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $47.00 price objective on shares of Aramark in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Aramark from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Aramark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.42.

Aramark Price Performance

The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $37.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.13 billion, a PE ratio of 27.13 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $4.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.61 billion. Aramark had a net margin of 1.94% and a return on equity of 14.72%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.41 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Aramark will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Aramark Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 24th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.105 dividend. 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 1.22%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Aramark’s payout ratio is currently 33.07%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Aramark

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Aramark by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 7,621 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its stake in shares of Aramark by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 53,654 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,002,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its stake in shares of Aramark by 45.7% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 988 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 310 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Aramark by 93.0% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 770 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 371 shares during the period. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Aramark by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 16,504 shares of the company’s stock valued at $643,000 after purchasing an additional 395 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.