KBC Group NV Purchases 3,780 Shares of AECOM (NYSE:ACM)

KBC Group NV grew its position in shares of AECOM (NYSE:ACM) by 24.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 19,255 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,780 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in AECOM were worth $2,057,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACM. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of AECOM by 12.5% in the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 10,621 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $936,000 after buying an additional 1,180 shares during the last quarter. Magnus Financial Group LLC boosted its position in AECOM by 93.5% during the fourth quarter. Magnus Financial Group LLC now owns 4,860 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $519,000 after purchasing an additional 2,348 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in AECOM by 40.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 768,266 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $79,339,000 after purchasing an additional 220,035 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its position in AECOM by 5.0% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 258,680 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $26,714,000 after purchasing an additional 12,224 shares during the period. Finally, TT International Asset Management LTD purchased a new stake in AECOM in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,578,000. Institutional investors own 85.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at AECOM

In other news, CFO Gaurav Kapoor sold 42,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.34, for a total transaction of $4,890,416.00. Following the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on ACM. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of AECOM from $119.00 to $129.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of AECOM from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, October 27th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of AECOM from $113.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of AECOM from $122.00 to $121.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on shares of AECOM from $128.00 to $127.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, AECOM has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $119.13.

AECOM Stock Performance

Shares of AECOM stock opened at $105.57 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.19. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $109.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $103.89. AECOM has a 12 month low of $82.23 and a 12 month high of $118.56.

AECOM (NYSE:ACM) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.86 billion. AECOM had a return on equity of 25.46% and a net margin of 2.50%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.01 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that AECOM will post 5.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AECOM announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Monday, November 18th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the construction company to reacquire up to 6.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

AECOM Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were given a $0.26 dividend. This is a positive change from AECOM’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.99%. AECOM’s payout ratio is 35.14%.

AECOM Company Profile

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.