ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Makes New $203,000 Investment in AAR Corp. (NYSE:AIR)

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new stake in AAR Corp. (NYSE:AIR) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 3,315 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. National Bank of Canada FI bought a new stake in shares of AAR in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted 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 valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 234 shares during the period. KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of AAR by 32.9% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,324 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $87,000 after acquiring an additional 328 shares during the period. Net Worth Advisory Group bought a new stake in shares of AAR in the third quarter valued at approximately $228,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of AAR in the third quarter valued at approximately $229,000. 90.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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 stock was 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 $23,144,356.80. The trade was a 27.03 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Jessica A. Garascia sold 1,500 shares of AAR stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.90, for a total value of $100,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 37,565 shares in the company, valued at $2,513,098.50. This trade represents a 3.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 185,793 shares of company stock worth $12,538,396. 4.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

AAR Stock Performance

AAR stock opened at $72.25 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $65.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $65.12. AAR Corp. has a 52-week low of $54.71 and a 52-week high of $76.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 258.03 and a beta of 1.61.

AAR (NYSE:AIR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 7th. The aerospace company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.07. AAR had a return on equity of 10.46% and a net margin of 0.41%. The firm had revenue of $686.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $654.47 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.81 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that AAR Corp. will post 3.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on AIR shares. KeyCorp started coverage on AAR in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $83.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com raised AAR from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $83.00 target price on shares of AAR in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 target price 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, AAR currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.50.

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.