AAR Corp. (NYSE:AIR) Short Interest Update

AAR Corp. (NYSE:AIR) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 792,200 shares, an increase of 28.3% from the December 15th total of 617,500 shares. Approximately 2.3% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 264,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.0 days.

AAR Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE:AIR traded down $0.36 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $70.25. The company had a trading volume of 165,600 shares, compared to its average volume of 262,787. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a current ratio of 2.68. AAR has a fifty-two week low of $54.71 and a fifty-two week high of $76.34. The firm has a market cap of $2.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 250.91 and a beta of 1.61. The business’s fifty day moving average is $65.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $65.22.

AAR (NYSE:AIR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 7th. The aerospace company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $686.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $654.47 million. AAR had a net margin of 0.41% and a return on equity of 10.46%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.81 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that AAR will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at AAR

In other AAR news, SVP Christopher A. Jessup sold 33,481 shares of AAR stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.40, for a total transaction of $2,357,062.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 63,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,449,913.60. The trade was a 34.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Sean M. Gillen sold 17,385 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.33, for a total value of $1,153,147.05. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 72,326 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,797,383.58. This represents a 19.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 180,793 shares of company stock valued at $12,184,346 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 4.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AAR

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in AAR during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in AAR by 8.9% in the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 33,280 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,419,000 after purchasing an additional 2,711 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of AAR by 6.5% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 130,437 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $9,483,000 after purchasing an additional 7,938 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new stake in shares of AAR in the second quarter valued at about $370,000. Finally, L & S Advisors Inc acquired a new position in shares of AAR during the second quarter worth about $218,000. 90.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on AIR. StockNews.com upgraded shares of AAR from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. KeyCorp assumed coverage on shares of AAR in a research report on Thursday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $83.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of AAR in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $83.00 price target on shares of AAR in a research note on Friday, October 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $81.50.

AAR Company Profile

AAR Corp. provides products and services to commercial aviation, government, and defense markets worldwide. The Parts Supply segment leases and sells aircraft components and replacement parts. The Repair & Engineering segment provides airframe maintenance services, such as airframe inspection, painting, line maintenance, airframe modification, structural repair, avionics service and installation, exterior and interior refurbishment, and engineering and support services; component repair services comprising maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) services, engine and airframe accessories, and interior refurbishment; and landing gear overhaul services, including repair services on wheels and brakes.