Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) Shares Down 2.3% – Time to Sell?

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) was down 2.3% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $37.75 and last traded at $37.78. Approximately 1,121,973 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 45% from the average daily volume of 2,047,707 shares. The stock had previously closed at $38.68.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on ARMK. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Aramark from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Aramark from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Aramark from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $47.00 price objective on shares of Aramark in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on Aramark from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.00.

Aramark Stock Down 2.3 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market cap of $10.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.75 and a beta of 1.64. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.94.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $4.55 billion during 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 quarterly revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.41 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Aramark will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Aramark Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.105 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. This is a positive change from Aramark’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. This represents a $0.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.11%. Aramark’s payout ratio is currently 33.07%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Aramark

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ARMK. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Aramark by 63.2% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,593,734 shares of the company’s stock valued at $507,182,000 after buying an additional 5,263,817 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Aramark in the 4th quarter valued at $88,949,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Aramark by 29.5% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,511,152 shares of the company’s stock worth $317,551,000 after purchasing an additional 1,940,214 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in Aramark by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 15,714,443 shares of the company’s stock worth $608,619,000 after purchasing an additional 896,288 shares during the period. Finally, Fiduciary Management Inc. WI raised its stake in shares of Aramark by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Management Inc. WI now owns 11,454,740 shares of the company’s stock valued at $427,376,000 after purchasing an additional 860,179 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.