Citigroup Begins Coverage on Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

Equities researchers at Citigroup started coverage on shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) in a research report issued on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage set a “buy” rating and a $48.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup’s target price indicates a potential upside of 30.20% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on ARMK. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Aramark from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Aramark from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com cut shares of Aramark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Aramark from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $47.00 price target on shares of Aramark in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Aramark presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.42.

Aramark Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:ARMK opened at $36.87 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The stock has a market cap of $9.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.03 and a beta of 1.64. Aramark has a 1-year low of $29.82 and a 1-year high of $42.49. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $37.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.09.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $4.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.61 billion. Aramark had a return on equity of 14.72% and a net margin of 1.94%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.41 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Aramark will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Aramark

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Aramark by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,497,580 shares of the company’s stock worth $951,315,000 after acquiring an additional 178,147 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in Aramark by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 16,268,682 shares of the company’s stock worth $606,986,000 after buying an additional 554,239 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Aramark by 63.2% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,593,734 shares of the company’s stock valued at $507,182,000 after acquiring an additional 5,263,817 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Management Inc. WI boosted its holdings in Aramark by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Management Inc. WI now owns 11,454,740 shares of the company’s stock worth $427,376,000 after purchasing an additional 860,179 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Aramark by 29.5% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,511,152 shares of the company’s stock valued at $317,551,000 after purchasing an additional 1,940,214 shares during 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.