Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) Short Interest Update

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,150,000 shares, a drop of 21.6% from the December 31st total of 6,570,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,890,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.7 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ARMK has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Aramark from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Aramark from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Aramark from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Aramark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Aramark from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.59.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ARMK. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted 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 purchasing an additional 896,288 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Aramark by 70.0% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,329,917 shares of the company’s stock worth $322,618,000 after acquiring an additional 3,430,131 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Aramark by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,570,938 shares of the company’s stock worth $254,427,000 after acquiring an additional 441,711 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Aramark by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,363,113 shares of the company’s stock valued at $169,028,000 after acquiring an additional 45,384 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Aramark by 0.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,732,661 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,106,000 after purchasing an additional 14,839 shares during the period.

Aramark Stock Down 1.9 %

ARMK traded down $0.76 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $38.87. 1,679,685 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,606,525. Aramark has a 1 year low of $28.51 and a 1 year high of $42.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.30 billion, a PE ratio of 39.26 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $38.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.60.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 11th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.54. The business had revenue of $4.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.46 billion. Aramark had a net margin of 1.51% and a return on equity of 14.06%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.64 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Aramark will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

Aramark Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 24th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th will be given a dividend of $0.105 per share. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.08%. This is an increase from Aramark’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. Aramark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.42%.

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.