Citigroup Inc. Buys 31,299 Shares of AECOM (NYSE:ACM)

Citigroup Inc. grew its stake in shares of AECOM (NYSE:ACM) by 5.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 585,174 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 31,299 shares during the quarter. Citigroup Inc.’s holdings in AECOM were worth $60,431,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of AECOM during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Family Firm Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AECOM during the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in shares of AECOM by 196.2% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 388 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AECOM during the 3rd quarter worth $50,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of AECOM by 4,375.0% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 537 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 525 shares during the last quarter. 85.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ACM. Barclays upped their price objective on AECOM from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com upgraded AECOM from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, October 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on AECOM in a research report on Friday. They set a “buy” rating and a $130.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on AECOM from $112.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on AECOM from $110.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AECOM presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $119.38.

AECOM Price Performance

AECOM stock opened at $116.31 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 company has a market capitalization of $15.41 billion, a PE ratio of 39.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.17. AECOM has a 12 month low of $82.23 and a 12 month high of $116.76. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $106.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $96.20.

AECOM (NYSE:ACM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 18th. The construction company reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.24 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.86 billion. AECOM had a return on equity of 25.46% and a net margin of 2.50%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.01 earnings per share. Analysts expect that AECOM will post 5.1 EPS for the current year.

AECOM Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be paid a $0.26 dividend. This is a boost from AECOM’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.89%. AECOM’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.73%.

AECOM announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Monday, November 18th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the construction company to buy up to 6.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Gaurav Kapoor sold 42,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.34, for a total value of $4,890,416.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 31,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,601,837.52. This represents a 57.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

AECOM 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.