AAR (NYSE:AIR) Raised to “Hold” at StockNews.com

AAR (NYSE:AIR) was upgraded by StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Tuesday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on AIR. KeyCorp started coverage on AAR in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $83.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 price target on shares of AAR in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $83.00 price objective on shares of AAR in a research note on Friday, October 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AAR has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.50.

AAR Price Performance

AIR opened at $68.41 on Tuesday. AAR has a 1 year low of $54.71 and a 1 year 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 company’s 50 day simple moving average is $66.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $65.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.46 billion, a PE ratio of 244.32 and a beta of 1.61.

AAR (NYSE:AIR) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 0.41% and a return on equity of 10.46%. The company had revenue of $686.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $654.47 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.81 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 25.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AAR will post 3.77 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at AAR

In other news, CAO Jessica A. Garascia sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.90, for a total transaction of $100,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 37,565 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,513,098.50. This represents a 3.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO John Mcclain Holmes III sold 128,427 shares of AAR stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.76, for a total transaction of $8,573,786.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 346,680 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,144,356.80. This represents a 27.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 185,793 shares of company stock valued at $12,538,396 in the last quarter. Insiders own 4.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of AAR by 32.9% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 732,957 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $47,906,000 after acquiring an additional 181,518 shares in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted 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 valued at $51,652,000 after purchasing an additional 134,215 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position 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 grew its holdings in shares of AAR by 37.4% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 310,144 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $22,547,000 after buying an additional 84,459 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in AAR by 18.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 500,200 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $32,693,000 after buying an additional 77,974 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.74% of the company’s stock.

About AAR

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.