Wall Street Zen Downgrades AAR (NYSE:AIR) to Hold

AAR (NYSE:AIR) was downgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on AIR. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of AAR from $93.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of AAR in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Truist Financial set a $107.00 price objective on AAR in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on AAR from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded AAR from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $110.80.

AAR Price Performance

Shares of AIR opened at $113.26 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $93.02 and a 200-day moving average of $84.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 2.84 and a quick ratio of 1.31. The company has a market capitalization of $4.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.42 and a beta of 1.23. AAR has a 1 year low of $46.51 and a 1 year high of $113.65.

AAR (NYSE:AIR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 6th. The aerospace company reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.16. AAR had a net margin of 3.17% and a return on equity of 12.40%. The business had revenue of $795.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $760.95 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that AAR will post 3.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Sarah Louise Flanagan sold 10,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.56, for a total transaction of $1,167,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 32,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,565,978.88. This trade represents a 24.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Jessica A. Garascia sold 4,787 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.25, for a total value of $455,961.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 29,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,815,304.25. This represents a 13.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 128,984 shares of company stock valued at $12,517,090. 3.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AIR. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of AAR by 144.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,486,775 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $133,319,000 after acquiring an additional 878,188 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG raised its position in AAR by 709.2% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 488,239 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $43,780,000 after purchasing an additional 427,906 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in AAR by 36.9% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,154,167 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $107,752,000 after purchasing an additional 311,258 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in AAR by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,061,230 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $336,229,000 after buying an additional 281,871 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of AAR by 10.9% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,917,821 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $131,927,000 after buying an additional 188,406 shares during the last quarter. 90.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.