Morgan Stanley Issues Positive Forecast for Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) Stock Price

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) had its target price lifted by Morgan Stanley from $40.00 to $43.00 in a research note published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Aramark from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Aramark from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $36.00 to $42.50 in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Aramark from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. StockNews.com upgraded Aramark from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Aramark from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Aramark has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.59.

Aramark Stock Performance

Shares of ARMK opened at $40.38 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. Aramark has a 12 month low of $26.58 and a 12 month high of $42.49. The company’s fifty day moving average is $39.17 and its 200-day moving average is $36.30. The firm has a market cap of $10.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.79 and a beta of 1.63.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 11th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.54. The company had revenue of $4.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.46 billion. Aramark had a return on equity of 14.06% and a net margin of 1.51%. The business’s revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.64 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Aramark will post 1.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aramark Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.001 per share. This represents a $0.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.01%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. Aramark’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.42%.

Institutional Trading of Aramark

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ARMK. Huntington National Bank boosted its position in Aramark by 100.3% in the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 681 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 341 shares during the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in Aramark in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in Aramark by 360.1% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 773 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 605 shares during the period. Friedenthal Financial bought a new stake in Aramark during the 3rd quarter worth about $52,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in Aramark by 225.5% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,080 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,000 after buying an additional 1,441 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.