Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) saw a large growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,840,000 shares, a growth of 14.5% from the March 15th total of 5,100,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,490,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.3 days.

Institutional Trading of Aramark

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. New York Life Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Aramark by 112.2% during the third quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 27,665 shares of the company’s stock valued at $960,000 after buying an additional 14,628 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Aramark by 24.1% during the fourth quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 141,849 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,986,000 after buying an additional 27,522 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Aramark by 121.0% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 368,303 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,268,000 after buying an additional 201,623 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Aramark by 451.3% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 107,062 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,715,000 after buying an additional 87,641 shares during the period. Finally, CenterBook Partners LP increased its stake in shares of Aramark by 143.8% during the third quarter. CenterBook Partners LP now owns 90,635 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,145,000 after buying an additional 53,463 shares during the period.

Aramark Trading Down 0.9 %

ARMK traded down $0.28 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $31.19. The company had a trading volume of 1,537,691 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,483,609. The stock has a market cap of $8.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.05, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.48. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $28.92. Aramark has a 52 week low of $23.95 and a 52 week high of $33.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.05. Aramark had a return on equity of 13.45% and a net margin of 3.37%. The company had revenue of $4.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.29 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.41 earnings per share. Aramark’s revenue was up 12.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Aramark will post 1.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aramark Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.095 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 13th. This represents a $0.38 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.22%. Aramark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.90%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Aramark from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Aramark from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $33.00 price objective on shares of Aramark in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Aramark in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $33.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aramark has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $33.04.

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.