AAR (NYSE:AIR) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of AAR (NYSE:AIR) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report published on Tuesday.

AIR has been the subject of a number of other research reports. KeyCorp started coverage on AAR in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $83.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of AAR in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $83.00 price objective on shares of AAR in a research note on Friday, October 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $81.50.

AAR Stock Performance

NYSE:AIR opened at $68.97 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $66.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $65.07. AAR has a 52-week low of $54.71 and a 52-week high of $76.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 2.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.48 billion, a PE ratio of 246.32 and a beta of 1.61.

AAR (NYSE:AIR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 7th. The aerospace company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.07. AAR had a return on equity of 10.46% and a net margin of 0.41%. The business had revenue of $686.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $654.47 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.81 earnings per share. AAR’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that AAR will post 3.77 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at AAR

In other AAR news, CEO John Mcclain Holmes III sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.81, for a total transaction of $354,050.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 341,680 shares in the company, valued at $24,194,360.80. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Sean M. Gillen sold 17,385 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 72,326 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,797,383.58. This trade represents a 19.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 185,793 shares of company stock valued at $12,538,396. Insiders own 4.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AAR

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of AAR by 32.9% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 732,957 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $47,906,000 after buying an additional 181,518 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its holdings in shares of AAR by 20.5% in the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 790,267 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $51,652,000 after buying an additional 134,215 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AAR by 13.4% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 969,741 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $59,591,000 after buying an additional 114,460 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of AAR by 37.4% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 310,144 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $22,547,000 after buying an additional 84,459 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AAR by 18.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 500,200 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $32,693,000 after buying an additional 77,974 shares during the period. 90.74% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.