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

Shares of Aecon Group Inc. (TSE:ARE) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$18.09.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on ARE shares. CIBC boosted their target price on shares of Aecon Group from C$18.00 to C$21.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Aecon Group from C$14.00 to C$16.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Aecon Group from C$14.50 to C$17.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Desjardins boosted their price target on shares of Aecon Group from C$16.00 to C$20.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Aecon Group from C$13.00 to C$16.50 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th.

Aecon Group Stock Performance

TSE:ARE opened at C$16.61 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 39.29. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of C$15.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$13.31. The company has a market cap of C$1.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 18.18 and a beta of 1.16. Aecon Group has a 52 week low of C$8.42 and a 52 week high of C$17.40.

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

Aecon Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, March 22nd were given a $0.19 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 21st. This is a boost from Aecon Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.58%. Aecon Group’s payout ratio is 36.19%.

Insider Activity

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

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.