Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) Given New $43.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) had its price target cut by Morgan Stanley from $44.00 to $43.00 in a research note published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Aramark from $47.00 to $46.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen cut Aramark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Baird R W raised shares of Aramark from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Aramark in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Aramark from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.50.

Aramark Stock Performance

Shares of ARMK stock opened at $36.74 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03. The company has a market cap of $9.66 billion, a PE ratio of 27.21 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $38.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.79. Aramark has a 52 week low of $29.92 and a 52 week high of $44.49.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 17th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by ($0.01). Aramark had a return on equity of 15.67% and a net margin of 2.02%.The business had revenue of $5.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.16 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.54 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. Aramark has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.180-2.28 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Aramark will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Aramark Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. This is an increase from Aramark’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. Aramark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.11%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Aramark

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of ARMK. Harbour Investments Inc. grew its stake in Aramark by 40,750.0% in the first quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 817 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 815 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Aramark in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Aramark in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Aramark by 160.7% in the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 678 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. raised its position in shares of Aramark by 241.3% during the 2nd quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 1,116 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 789 shares in the last quarter.

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.