Aramark’s (ARMK) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at Stifel Nicolaus

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by analysts at Stifel Nicolaus in a research note issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $45.00 price objective on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ target price suggests a potential upside of 21.20% from the company’s previous close.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Citigroup upgraded shares of Aramark from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $45.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Friday, September 1st. Bank of America lowered their price target on Aramark from $48.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Aramark from $42.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 9th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Aramark from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Friday, July 21st. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Aramark from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $43.92.

Aramark Trading Up 1.9 %

ARMK stock traded up $0.68 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $37.13. 351,617 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,400,411. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $39.30 and its 200-day moving average is $37.98. The company has a market cap of $9.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.94, a P/E/G ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12. Aramark has a 52-week low of $30.72 and a 52-week high of $45.72.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 8th. The company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.02. Aramark had a return on equity of 12.59% and a net margin of 2.97%. The company had revenue of $4.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.59 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.25 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Aramark will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in shares of Aramark by 102.9% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 24,774,397 shares of the company’s stock valued at $886,923,000 after buying an additional 12,562,434 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in Aramark by 1,042.8% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 12,850,218 shares of the company’s stock worth $531,228,000 after purchasing an additional 11,725,727 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Aramark by 63.3% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,929,211 shares of the company’s stock worth $283,866,000 after purchasing an additional 3,074,389 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Aramark by 905.1% during the first quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,705,710 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,865,000 after purchasing an additional 2,436,504 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Aramark in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $95,987,000.

Aramark Company Profile

Aramark provides food, facilities, and uniform services to education, healthcare, business and industry, sports, leisure, and corrections clients in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Food and Support Services United States, Food and Support Services International, and Uniform and Career Apparel.