HighTower Advisors LLC Raises Stake in AAR Corp. (NYSE:AIR)

HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of AAR Corp. (NYSE:AIR) by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,818 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after acquiring an additional 220 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in AAR were worth $249,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AIR. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its position in AAR by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 16,700 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,214,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of AAR by 37.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 421,770 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $30,663,000 after acquiring an additional 115,330 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in AAR by 41.0% during the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 551,439 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $40,090,000 after acquiring an additional 160,363 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in AAR by 22.4% during the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 9,292 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $676,000 after acquiring an additional 1,703 shares during the period. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its position in AAR by 12.6% during the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 39,491 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,871,000 after acquiring an additional 4,425 shares during the last quarter. 90.74% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AIR. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $83.00 price objective on shares of AAR in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $75.00 price target on shares of AAR in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of AAR from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, AAR currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.00.

AAR Price Performance

AIR opened at $60.93 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a current ratio of 3.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.19 billion, a PE ratio of 33.48 and a beta of 1.59. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $64.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $65.77. AAR Corp. has a 52-week low of $54.71 and a 52-week high of $76.34.

AAR (NYSE:AIR) last posted its earnings results on Monday, September 23rd. The aerospace company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.03. AAR had a net margin of 2.67% and a return on equity of 10.22%. The firm had revenue of $661.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $645.60 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.78 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that AAR Corp. will post 3.63 EPS for the current year.

AAR 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.