AAR (NYSE:AIR) Receives Buy Rating from Benchmark

AAR (NYSE:AIR)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by analysts at Benchmark in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $83.00 price target on the aerospace company’s stock. Benchmark’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 24.98% from the stock’s previous close.

AIR has been the topic of several other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on AAR from $86.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price target on shares of AAR in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, StockNews.com cut AAR from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.50.

AAR Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:AIR opened at $66.41 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.18 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. AAR has a 12-month low of $54.71 and a 12-month high of $76.34. The business’s 50 day moving average is $64.37 and its 200 day moving average is $66.64.

AAR (NYSE:AIR) last announced its earnings results on Monday, September 23rd. The aerospace company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.03. AAR had a return on equity of 10.31% and a net margin of 2.67%. The company had revenue of $661.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $645.60 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.78 earnings per share. AAR’s quarterly revenue was up 20.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that AAR will post 3.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of AAR

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. bought a new position in AAR in the 2nd quarter worth about $77,754,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in AAR by 1,956.5% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 909,953 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $66,154,000 after acquiring an additional 865,705 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners bought a new position in AAR in the 1st quarter worth about $25,794,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in AAR by 889.2% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 391,076 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $23,414,000 after acquiring an additional 351,540 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake in AAR by 83.6% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 297,482 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $21,627,000 after acquiring an additional 135,445 shares during the last quarter. 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.