Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) Rating Increased to Hold at StockNews.com

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on ARMK. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Aramark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Aramark from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $42.50 in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Aramark from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Aramark from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Aramark from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $39.68.

Aramark Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ARMK remained flat at $38.21 during trading on Tuesday. 1,486,562 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,228,924. Aramark has a 12 month low of $25.92 and a 12 month high of $39.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.05 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $37.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.63.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.01. Aramark had a net margin of 1.93% and a return on equity of 14.09%. The business had revenue of $4.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.31 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.36 earnings per share. Aramark’s revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Aramark will post 1.55 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Aramark

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ARMK. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in shares of Aramark by 360.1% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 773 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 605 shares during the period. Twin Tree Management LP raised its position in shares of Aramark by 32.0% in the 1st quarter. Twin Tree Management LP now owns 1,424 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 345 shares during the period. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new stake in Aramark during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $52,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Aramark by 319.3% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,677 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 1,277 shares during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in Aramark by 44,750.0% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,794 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 1,790 shares during the period.

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.