Short Interest in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) Decreases By 21.6%

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) saw a significant decrease in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,150,000 shares, a decrease of 21.6% from the December 31st total of 6,570,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,890,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.7 days.

Institutional Trading of Aramark

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Huntington National Bank lifted its stake in Aramark by 100.3% during the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 681 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 341 shares during the period. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in Aramark during the third quarter valued at $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in Aramark by 360.1% in the third 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. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in Aramark in the third quarter worth about $52,000. Finally, CWM LLC increased its position in shares of Aramark by 112.6% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,822 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 965 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Aramark from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Aramark from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Aramark from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Aramark from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Aramark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.59.

Aramark Price Performance

ARMK traded up $0.45 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $39.77. The stock had a trading volume of 368,165 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,709,402. Aramark has a 1 year low of $28.51 and a 1 year high of $42.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.81. The business has a fifty day moving average of $38.94 and a 200 day moving average of $37.52. The company has a market cap of $10.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.17 and a beta of 1.64.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 11th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54. Aramark had a net margin of 1.51% and a return on equity of 14.06%. The company had revenue of $4.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.64 earnings per share. Aramark’s revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Aramark will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aramark Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be issued a $0.105 dividend. This is an increase from Aramark’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.06%. Aramark’s dividend payout ratio is 42.42%.

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.