Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) Short Interest Down 31.8% in December

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) saw a significant decrease in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,570,000 shares, a decrease of 31.8% from the November 30th total of 9,630,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,980,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.3 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Aramark

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARMK. Huntington National Bank raised its position in shares of Aramark by 100.3% during 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 period. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Aramark in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of Aramark by 360.1% during the 3rd 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 purchased a new position in Aramark during the third quarter worth about $52,000. Finally, CWM LLC increased its position in shares of Aramark by 112.6% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,822 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 965 shares during the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ARMK has been the topic of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Aramark from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. 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 research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Aramark from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Aramark from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $36.00 to $42.50 in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Aramark from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.59.

Aramark Price Performance

Shares of Aramark stock traded down $0.18 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $37.25. 1,241,852 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,190,828. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.87 billion, a PE ratio of 37.63 and a beta of 1.63. The business has a 50-day moving average of $39.11 and a 200 day moving average of $36.80. Aramark has a fifty-two week low of $27.47 and a fifty-two week high of $42.49. 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 (NYSE:ARMK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 11th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54. Aramark had a return on equity of 14.06% and a net margin of 1.51%. The company had revenue of $4.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.46 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.64 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Aramark will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Aramark Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a $0.001 dividend. 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 (DPR) is 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.