Sit Investment Associates Inc. Takes $356,000 Position in AAR Corp. $AIR

Sit Investment Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of AAR Corp. (NYSE:AIR) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 4,300 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $356,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Dean Capital Management increased its position in AAR by 34.1% in the fourth quarter. Dean Capital Management now owns 23,504 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,946,000 after purchasing an additional 5,974 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in AAR by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,122,792 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $92,956,000 after purchasing an additional 80,265 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in AAR during the 4th quarter valued at about $239,000. Skyview Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in AAR during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,845,000. Finally, State of Tennessee Department of Treasury boosted its stake in shares of AAR by 23.0% in the 4th quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury now owns 15,902 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,317,000 after purchasing an additional 2,972 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.74% of the company’s stock.

AAR Stock Performance

Shares of AIR stock opened at $135.35 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 2.70 and a quick ratio of 1.23. The stock has a market cap of $5.38 billion, a PE ratio of 30.01 and a beta of 1.13. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $116.18 and a 200-day moving average of $106.77. AAR Corp. has a one year low of $66.75 and a one year high of $135.48.

AAR (NYSE:AIR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 24th. The aerospace company reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.21 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $845.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $812.58 million. AAR had a net margin of 5.46% and a return on equity of 12.39%. AAR’s quarterly revenue was up 24.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.99 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AAR Corp. will post 4.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AIR has been the subject of several analyst reports. Zacks Research cut shares of AAR from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of AAR to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. KeyCorp raised their price objective 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. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of AAR from $105.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of AAR from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Monday, June 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AAR has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

AAR Company Profile

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.