Aecon Group Inc. (TSE:ARE) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Aecon Group Inc. (TSE:ARE) have received an average rating of “Hold” from the eleven research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is C$52.29.

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. ATB Cormark Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Aecon Group from C$42.00 to C$49.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Aecon Group from C$49.00 to C$59.00 in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Aecon Group from C$46.00 to C$44.50 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Aecon Group from C$44.00 to C$49.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on shares of Aecon Group from C$52.00 to C$56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th.

Aecon Group Price Performance

ARE stock opened at C$44.65 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of C$3.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 81.18, a PEG ratio of 18.18 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 42.80. Aecon Group has a 12-month low of C$17.06 and a 12-month high of C$57.72. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is C$46.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$38.14.

Aecon Group (TSE:ARE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported C($0.21) EPS for the quarter. Aecon Group had a return on equity of 3.71% and a net margin of 0.62%.The business had revenue of C$1.26 billion for the quarter. On average, analysts expect that Aecon Group will post 1.3793321 earnings per share for the current year.

Aecon Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 2nd were paid a $0.1925 dividend. This represents a $0.77 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 23rd. Aecon Group’s payout ratio is 138.64%.

Insider Activity at Aecon Group

In other Aecon Group news, Director John Michael Beck sold 20,000 shares of Aecon Group stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$49.77, for a total value of C$995,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 201,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$10,024,524.09. The trade was a 9.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Also, insider Timothy John Murphy sold 2,930 shares of Aecon Group stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$52.31, for a total transaction of C$153,268.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 4,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$251,140.31. This trade represents a 37.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 148,451 shares of company stock valued at $6,382,370. 0.82% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Aecon Group

Aecon Group Inc is a Canada-based company that operates in two segments: Construction and Concessions. The Construction segment includes various aspects of the construction of public and private infrastructure projects, mainly in the transportation sector. Its concessions segment is engaged in the development, financing, construction, and operation of infrastructure projects. Aecon generates the majority of its revenue from the Construction segment.