Royal Bank of Canada Reaffirms “Outperform” Rating for Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

Royal Bank of Canada reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) in a research report report published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $47.00 target price on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group upped their price target on Aramark from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Aramark from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on Aramark in a report on Monday, February 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $48.00 target price on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Aramark currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.33.

Aramark Price Performance

ARMK opened at $38.92 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.20 billion, a PE ratio of 30.65 and a beta of 1.20. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $34.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.91. Aramark has a 52-week low of $29.92 and a 52-week high of $42.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.94.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $4.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.35 billion. Aramark had a return on equity of 14.72% and a net margin of 1.94%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.30 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Aramark will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Aramark Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.105 per share. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.08%. Aramark’s payout ratio is currently 32.31%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ARMK. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Aramark by 40,750.0% during the first quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 817 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 815 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Aramark by 93.0% during the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 770 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 371 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its holdings in shares of Aramark by 45.7% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 988 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in shares of Aramark by 75.2% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,354 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 581 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its position in Aramark by 167.2% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,424 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 891 shares during 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.