Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $45.6667.

ARMK has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup upped their target price on Aramark from $46.50 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Baird R W upgraded Aramark from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Aramark from $47.00 to $46.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $44.00 target price on Aramark in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Aramark from $44.00 to $43.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 18th.

Institutional Trading of Aramark

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARMK. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new position in Aramark in the third quarter worth approximately $28,000. Harbour Investments Inc. boosted its position in Aramark by 40,750.0% during the 1st quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 817 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 815 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Aramark in the 3rd quarter valued at $35,000. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Aramark in the 2nd quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Aramark by 160.7% during the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 678 shares during the last quarter.

Aramark Price Performance

Aramark stock opened at $37.17 on Friday. Aramark has a 52-week low of $29.92 and a 52-week high of $44.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $38.36 and its 200 day moving average is $39.75. The company has a market cap of $9.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.53 and a beta of 1.24.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 17th. The company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.65 by ($0.08). Aramark had a net margin of 2.02% and a return on equity of 15.67%. The company had revenue of $5.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.54 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Aramark has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.180-2.28 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Aramark will post 1.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aramark Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Friday, December 5th will be issued a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. This is a positive change from Aramark’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Aramark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.34%.

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.