AECOM (NYSE:ACM) Given Average Recommendation of “Buy” by Analysts

AECOM (NYSE:ACM) has received an average recommendation of “Buy” from the seven analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $116.43.

ACM has been the topic of several research reports. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of AECOM from $110.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of AECOM from $115.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays boosted their price objective on AECOM from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Truist Financial raised their target price on AECOM from $108.00 to $119.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on AECOM from $112.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Gaurav Kapoor sold 42,400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.34, for a total transaction of $4,890,416.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 31,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,601,837.52. This represents a 57.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AECOM

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in AECOM by 19.1% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 6,757 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $663,000 after acquiring an additional 1,082 shares during the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its position in shares of AECOM by 9.3% in the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 2,782 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $273,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AECOM during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,085,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in AECOM by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 12,242 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,201,000 after buying an additional 332 shares during the period. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd grew its stake in AECOM by 111.1% in the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 1,900 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $186,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.41% of the company’s stock.

AECOM Stock Performance

Shares of AECOM stock opened at $108.80 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $104.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $95.75. AECOM has a one year low of $82.23 and a one year high of $115.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.49, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.17.

AECOM (NYSE:ACM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 18th. The construction company reported $1.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.24 by $0.03. AECOM had a return on equity of 24.14% and a net margin of 1.61%. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.86 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.01 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that AECOM will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AECOM announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Monday, November 18th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the construction company to repurchase up to 6.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

AECOM Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 2nd. This is a positive change from AECOM’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.96%. AECOM’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.31%.

About AECOM

AECOM, together with its subsidiaries, provides professional infrastructure consulting services worldwide. It operates in three segments: Americas, International, and AECOM Capital. The company offers planning, consulting, architectural and engineering design, construction and program management, and investment and development services to public and private clients.