Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) Rating Lowered to Sell at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday.

Several other analysts have also commented on ARMK. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Aramark from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Aramark from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Aramark from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Aramark from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Aramark from a hold rating to a buy rating and increased their price target for the company from $36.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $38.95.

Aramark Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of Aramark stock opened at $38.11 on Tuesday. Aramark has a 12-month low of $25.28 and a 12-month high of $38.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71. The stock has a market cap of $10.04 billion, a PE ratio of 29.09 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a 50-day moving average of $36.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $34.03.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.01. Aramark had a net margin of 1.93% and a return on equity of 14.09%. The company had revenue of $4.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.31 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.36 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Aramark will post 1.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aramark Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, August 19th were given a dividend of $0.095 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 19th. This represents a $0.38 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.00%. Aramark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.01%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Aramark

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Aramark by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,584,242 shares of the company’s stock valued at $718,917,000 after purchasing an additional 139,693 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Aramark by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,712,814 shares of the company’s stock valued at $771,141,000 after purchasing an additional 98,506 shares during the last quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Aramark by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 17,822,937 shares of the company’s stock valued at $579,602,000 after purchasing an additional 923,683 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Aramark by 5.4% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 13,391,832 shares of the company’s stock valued at $435,501,000 after purchasing an additional 681,735 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Aramark by 18.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,731,963 shares of the company’s stock valued at $160,977,000 after purchasing an additional 720,738 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.