AAR (NYSE:AIR) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Hold Rating

StockNews.com upgraded shares of AAR (NYSE:AIR) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the company. KeyCorp started coverage on AAR in a research report on Thursday. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $83.00 price target on the stock. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $83.00 target price on shares of AAR in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 price target on shares of AAR in a research report on Monday, November 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AAR has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.50.

AAR Price Performance

Shares of AAR 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 firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $65.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $65.22. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 250.91 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $686.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $654.47 million. AAR had a net margin of 0.41% and a return on equity of 10.46%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 25.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.81 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that AAR will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 346,680 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,144,356.80. The trade was a 27.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Sean M. Gillen sold 17,385 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.33, for a total transaction of $1,153,147.05. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 72,326 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,797,383.58. The trade was a 19.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 180,793 shares of company stock worth $12,184,346. Company insiders own 4.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AAR

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 77,974 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of AAR by 269.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 66,223 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $4,328,000 after purchasing an additional 48,298 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in AAR by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,588,893 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $115,513,000 after purchasing an additional 48,630 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its position in AAR by 4.1% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 22,859 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,494,000 after buying an additional 893 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its stake in AAR by 24.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 109,543 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $7,160,000 after buying an additional 21,342 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.74% of the company’s stock.

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.