Great Lakes Advisors LLC Invests $3.10 Million in AAR Corp. (NYSE:AIR)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC acquired a new position in AAR Corp. (NYSE:AIR) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 50,660 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,104,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AIR. Callan Family Office LLC bought a new position in AAR in the fourth quarter worth $201,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of AAR during the fourth quarter valued at $6,849,000. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of AAR by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 10,420 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $639,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AAR by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 14,847 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $910,000 after acquiring an additional 390 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AAR by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 538,125 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $32,976,000 after acquiring an additional 19,863 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.74% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AIR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com cut AAR from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. KeyCorp assumed coverage on AAR in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $83.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Jessica A. Garascia sold 1,500 shares of AAR stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.90, for a total value of $100,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 37,565 shares in the company, valued at $2,513,098.50. This trade represents a 3.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO John Mcclain Holmes III sold 5,000 shares of AAR stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,194,360.80. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 185,793 shares of company stock worth $12,538,396 over the last three months. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

AAR Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AIR opened at $67.18 on Friday. AAR Corp. has a twelve month low of $54.71 and a twelve month high of $76.34. The firm has a market cap of $2.41 billion, a PE ratio of 239.95 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 2.68. The business has a fifty day moving average of $66.60 and a 200-day moving average of $65.26.

AAR (NYSE:AIR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 7th. The aerospace company reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $686.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $654.47 million. AAR had a return on equity of 10.46% and a net margin of 0.41%. The company’s revenue was up 25.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.81 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that AAR Corp. will post 3.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.