National Bank Financial Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Aecon Group (TSE:ARE) Stock

Aecon Group (TSE:ARE) had its target price lifted by equities researchers at National Bank Financial from C$59.00 to C$65.00 in a report released on Monday,BayStreet.CA reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the stock. National Bank Financial’s price target suggests a potential upside of 33.31% from the stock’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on ARE. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Aecon Group from C$49.00 to C$59.00 in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Desjardins lifted their price objective on shares of Aecon Group from C$55.00 to C$61.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Stifel Nicolaus raised Aecon Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from C$46.00 to C$54.00 in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Aecon Group from C$44.00 to C$49.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Raymond James Financial upgraded Aecon Group from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from C$52.00 to C$60.00 in a research report on Friday, July 3rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$55.08.

Aecon Group Price Performance

Shares of TSE ARE traded up C$0.14 during trading hours on Monday, hitting C$48.76. 181,586 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 478,289. Aecon Group has a 1-year low of C$17.06 and a 1-year high of C$57.72. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is C$47.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is C$41.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 42.80, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.16. The company has a market cap of C$3.34 billion, a PE ratio of 88.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 18.18 and a beta of 1.38.

Aecon Group (TSE:ARE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported C($0.21) EPS for the quarter. Aecon Group had a net margin of 0.62% and a return on equity of 3.71%. The firm had revenue of C$1.26 billion during the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Aecon Group will post 1.3793321 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aecon Group

In other news, insider Ernest Chan sold 521 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$55.09, for a total transaction of C$28,701.89. Following the sale, the insider owned 11,003 shares in the company, valued at C$606,155.27. This represents a 4.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Also, Director John Michael Beck sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$49.77, for a total transaction of C$995,400.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 201,417 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$10,024,524.09. The trade was a 9.03% decrease in their position. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 23,451 shares of company stock valued at $1,177,370. Corporate 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.