Aecon Group Inc. (TSE:ARE) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Aecon Group Inc. (TSE:ARE) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$18.23.

Several equities analysts recently commented on ARE shares. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on shares of Aecon Group from C$14.00 to C$26.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. TD Securities increased their price objective on shares of Aecon Group from C$14.00 to C$18.50 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Aecon Group from C$10.00 to C$13.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Aecon Group from C$16.50 to C$17.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Aecon Group from C$14.00 to C$16.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th.

Insider Transactions at Aecon Group

In other news, Senior Officer Adam Robert Borgatti bought 4,231 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were acquired at an average price of C$13.07 per share, with a total value of C$55,299.17. In other Aecon Group news, Senior Officer Martina Doyle sold 2,265 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$16.42, for a total transaction of C$37,191.30. Also, Senior Officer Adam Robert Borgatti acquired 4,231 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were bought at an average cost of C$13.07 per share, for a total transaction of C$55,299.17. 1.72% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Aecon Group Price Performance

TSE:ARE opened at C$17.04 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of C$1.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.11, a PEG ratio of 18.18 and a beta of 1.16. Aecon Group has a one year low of C$8.42 and a one year high of C$17.40. The company has a fifty day moving average price of C$15.86 and a 200 day moving average price of C$13.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 39.29, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.27.

Aecon Group (TSE:ARE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, March 5th. The company reported C$0.15 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of C$0.17 by C($0.02). The company had revenue of C$1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of C$1.22 billion. Aecon Group had a net margin of 3.49% and a return on equity of 16.04%. Analysts anticipate that Aecon Group will post 0.7603047 earnings per share for the current year.

Aecon Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 22nd were issued a $0.19 dividend. This is a positive change from Aecon Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 21st. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.46%. Aecon Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.19%.

Aecon Group Company Profile

Aecon Group Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provide construction and infrastructure development services to private and public sector clients in Canada, the United States, and internationally. It operates through two segments, Construction and Concessions. The Construction segment focuses on civil infrastructure, urban transportation solutions, nuclear power infrastructure, utility infrastructure, and conventional industrial infrastructure market sectors.