AAON, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAON) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

AAON, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAON) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,650,000 shares, a drop of 8.3% from the November 30th total of 1,800,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 419,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.9 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Stephen E. Wakefield sold 5,362 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.99, for a total transaction of $702,368.38. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 4,558 shares in the company, valued at $597,052.42. The trade was a 54.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Casey Kidwell sold 4,796 shares of AAON stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.38, for a total transaction of $654,078.48. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 4,953 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $675,490.14. This trade represents a 49.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 57,329 shares of company stock worth $7,663,726. 18.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AAON by 202.0% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 296 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of AAON in the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of AAON during the 3rd quarter worth $37,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in shares of AAON during the 3rd quarter worth $43,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC grew its position in AAON by 63.5% in the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 613 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.81% of the company’s stock.

AAON Stock Performance

Shares of AAON opened at $119.65 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $126.94 and a 200 day moving average of $105.04. The company has a current ratio of 3.06, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. AAON has a 12 month low of $68.38 and a 12 month high of $144.07. The company has a market capitalization of $9.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.71 and a beta of 0.83.

AAON (NASDAQ:AAON) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The construction company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $327.25 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $315.80 million. AAON had a return on equity of 24.98% and a net margin of 15.78%. AAON’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.64 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that AAON will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current year.

AAON Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 19th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.27%. AAON’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.10%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on AAON shares. DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of AAON from $102.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. StockNews.com raised shares of AAON from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Sidoti downgraded AAON from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $102.00 to $111.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on AAON from $130.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Baird R W raised AAON from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.00.

AAON Company Profile

AAON, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in engineering, manufacturing, marketing, and selling air conditioning and heating equipment in the United States and Canada. The company operates through three segments: AAON Oklahoma, AAON Coil Products, and BASX. It offers rooftop units, data center cooling solutions, cleanroom systems, chillers, packaged outdoor mechanical rooms, air handling units, makeup air units, energy recovery units, condensing units, geothermal/water-source heat pumps, coils, and controls.