JPMorgan Chase & Co. Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) Stock

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) had its target price raised by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $41.00 to $45.00 in a report published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on ARMK. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Aramark from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Aramark from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $42.50 in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Aramark from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Bank of America upped their price target on Aramark from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, UBS Group lifted 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.23.

Aramark Price Performance

ARMK stock opened at $37.36 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $38.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $35.20. The firm has a market cap of $9.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.74 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.81. Aramark has a 1 year low of $26.58 and a 1 year high of $42.04.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 1.51% and a return on equity of 14.06%. The business had revenue of $4.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.46 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.64 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Aramark will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aramark Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a $0.001 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.01%. Aramark’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.38%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Aramark

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. M&T Bank Corp lifted its stake in Aramark by 5.5% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 16,206 shares of the company’s stock valued at $628,000 after buying an additional 838 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Aramark by 57.6% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 189,418 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,336,000 after acquiring an additional 69,223 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Aramark in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $716,000. Quarry LP boosted its stake in Aramark by 1,322.0% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 2,972 shares of the company’s stock worth $115,000 after purchasing an additional 2,763 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in Aramark by 6.0% during 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 in 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.