StockNews.com Upgrades AAR (NYSE:AIR) to Hold

AAR (NYSE:AIR) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Friday.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on AIR. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $75.00 target price on shares of AAR in a research report on Monday, November 4th. KeyCorp assumed coverage on AAR in a research report on Thursday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $83.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $83.00 target price on shares of AAR in a report on Friday, October 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AAR currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.50.

AAR Stock Performance

AIR stock opened at $70.25 on Friday. AAR has a 1-year low of $54.71 and a 1-year high of $76.34. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $65.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.18. The company has a market capitalization of $2.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 250.91 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 1.45.

AAR (NYSE:AIR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 7th. The aerospace company reported $0.90 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 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 business posted $0.81 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 25.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AAR will post 3.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at AAR

In other AAR news, CEO John Mcclain Holmes III sold 128,427 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.76, for a total transaction of $8,573,786.52. Following the transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Christopher A. Jessup sold 33,481 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 63,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,449,913.60. This represents a 34.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 180,793 shares of company stock valued at $12,184,346 in the last quarter. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AAR

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. National Bank of Canada FI acquired a new position in shares of AAR in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in AAR in the second quarter valued at $33,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of AAR by 43.0% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 778 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 234 shares during the period. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of AAR by 32.9% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,324 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $87,000 after acquiring an additional 328 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AAR during the 4th quarter valued at about $203,000. 90.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.