Aecon Group (TSE:ARE) Hits New 1-Year High Following Analyst Upgrade

Aecon Group Inc. (TSE:ARE) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday after Raymond James raised their price target on the stock from C$16.00 to C$24.00. Raymond James currently has a market perform rating on the stock. Aecon Group traded as high as C$23.24 and last traded at C$23.14, with a volume of 85710 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$23.06.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on ARE. National Bank Financial upgraded Aecon Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday, July 28th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Aecon Group from C$30.00 to C$31.00 in a report on Friday, October 4th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on Aecon Group from C$25.00 to C$28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. CIBC upped their price objective on shares of Aecon Group from C$22.00 to C$25.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, National Bankshares upgraded Aecon Group from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from C$17.00 to C$20.50 in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Aecon Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$22.07.

Insider Transactions at Aecon Group

In other news, Senior Officer Timothy John Murphy purchased 4,244 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were purchased at an average price of C$17.66 per share, with a total value of C$74,969.84. 0.82% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Aecon Group Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of C$1.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -93.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 18.18 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 32.86, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.35. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of C$20.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$17.79.

Aecon Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 2nd were paid a $0.19 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 20th. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.76%. Aecon Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -281.48%.

About Aecon Group

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.