Aecon Group (TSE:ARE) Price Target Raised to C$48.00 at National Bank Financial

Aecon Group (TSE:ARE) had its target price increased by National Bank Financial from C$45.00 to C$48.00 in a research note published on Wednesday morning,BayStreet.CA reports. National Bank Financial currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on ARE. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Aecon Group from C$40.00 to C$45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on Aecon Group from C$40.00 to C$52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Aecon Group from C$34.25 to C$28.75 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised their target price on Aecon Group from C$38.75 to C$44.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Aecon Group from C$30.00 to C$41.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of C$43.88.

Aecon Group Stock Up 3.5%

Shares of TSE:ARE opened at C$43.52 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is C$39.36 and its 200-day moving average price is C$32.48. Aecon Group has a 12-month low of C$15.21 and a 12-month high of C$44.71. The stock has a market capitalization of C$2.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 189.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 18.18 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 65.17.

Aecon Group (TSE:ARE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The company reported C$0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of C$1.54 billion for the quarter. Aecon Group had a return on equity of 1.66% and a net margin of 0.28%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Aecon Group will post 1.3793321 earnings per share for the current year.

Aecon Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 2nd were given a dividend of $0.1925 per share. This represents a $0.77 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 23rd. Aecon Group’s payout ratio is presently 330.43%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aecon Group news, Director Eric Stuart Rosenfeld sold 125,000 shares of Aecon Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$41.64, for a total transaction of C$5,205,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 184,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$7,670,088. The trade was a 40.43% decrease in their position. Insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

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.