Short Interest in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) Decreases By 31.8%

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) saw a significant decline in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,570,000 shares, a decline of 31.8% from the November 30th total of 9,630,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,980,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.3 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ARMK. Huntington National Bank lifted its holdings in Aramark by 100.3% in the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 681 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 341 shares during the period. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Aramark in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in shares of Aramark by 360.1% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 773 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 605 shares in the last quarter. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new stake in Aramark during the third quarter worth approximately $52,000. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its stake in Aramark by 112.6% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,822 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,000 after buying an additional 965 shares during the period.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Aramark from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Aramark from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $36.00 to $42.50 in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Aramark from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Aramark from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Aramark from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.59.

Aramark Price Performance

ARMK traded up $0.02 on Monday, reaching $37.45. The stock had a trading volume of 594,721 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,188,108. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The company has a market capitalization of $9.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.83 and a beta of 1.63. Aramark has a fifty-two week low of $27.47 and a fifty-two week high of $42.49. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $39.11 and a 200-day moving average of $36.80.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 11th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54. Aramark had a net margin of 1.51% and a return on equity of 14.06%. The business had revenue of $4.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.46 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.64 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Aramark will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Aramark Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a $0.001 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.01%. Aramark’s dividend payout ratio is 42.42%.

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.