AAR (NYSE:AIR) Sets New 12-Month High – What’s Next?

Shares of AAR Corp. (NYSE:AIR) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $137.08 and last traded at $136.9770, with a volume of 78760 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $132.26.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of AAR from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 14th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of AAR to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of AAR from $120.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Weiss Ratings upgraded AAR from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on AAR from $105.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.20.

AAR Stock Up 2.2%

The firm has a market cap of $5.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.01 and a beta of 1.13. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $116.63 and its 200 day moving average is $107.66. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 2.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

AAR (NYSE:AIR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, March 24th. The aerospace company reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.21 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $845.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $812.58 million. AAR had a return on equity of 12.39% and a net margin of 5.46%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.99 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that AAR Corp. will post 4.97 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at AAR

In other news, CEO John Mcclain Holmes III sold 26,175 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.60, for a total value of $2,816,430.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 235,064 shares in the company, valued at $25,292,886.40. This represents a 10.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AIR. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in AAR by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,061,230 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $336,229,000 after acquiring an additional 281,871 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of AAR by 17.1% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,320,927 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $192,150,000 after purchasing an additional 339,595 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of AAR by 17.4% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,745,352 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $144,498,000 after purchasing an additional 258,577 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in AAR by 36.9% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,154,167 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $107,752,000 after buying an additional 311,258 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in AAR by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,122,792 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $92,956,000 after buying an additional 80,265 shares in the last quarter. 90.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About AAR

AAR Corp. (NYSE: AIR) is a global provider of aviation products and services to commercial, government and defense customers. The company offers a comprehensive portfolio of maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) solutions, component repair and overhaul, and engineering services designed to support a wide variety of fixed-wing and rotary aircraft. Leveraging FAA and EASA certifications, AAR delivers turnkey maintenance programs and ad hoc repair services that enhance aircraft availability and reliability.

In its Aviation Supply Chain Services segment, AAR sources, stores and distributes parts for both commercial airlines and military operators.