AAR (NYSE:AIR) Raised to Hold at StockNews.com

AAR (NYSE:AIR) was upgraded by StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on AIR. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $83.00 price objective on shares of AAR in a research note on Friday, October 4th. KeyCorp began coverage on shares of AAR in a report on Thursday, January 16th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $83.00 price target for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $75.00 price objective on shares of AAR in a research report on Monday, November 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $81.50.

AAR Stock Performance

Shares of AIR opened at $68.41 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. AAR has a 12 month low of $54.71 and a 12 month high of $76.34. The company’s fifty day moving average is $66.23 and its 200-day moving average is $65.05. The firm has a market cap of $2.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 244.32 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, 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 company had revenue of $686.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $654.47 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.81 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 25.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that AAR will post 3.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AAR news, SVP Christopher A. Jessup sold 33,481 shares of AAR stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 63,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,449,913.60. The trade was a 34.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO John Mcclain Holmes III sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.81, for a total value of $354,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 341,680 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,194,360.80. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 185,793 shares of company stock valued at $12,538,396 over the last three months. 4.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of AAR

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AAR by 18.5% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 500,200 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $32,693,000 after purchasing an additional 77,974 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in AAR by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 40,737 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,663,000 after purchasing an additional 3,612 shares during the last quarter. Shelton Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in AAR in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,068,000. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of AAR by 269.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 66,223 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $4,328,000 after buying an additional 48,298 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of AAR in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,539,000. 90.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.