Versor Investments LP Buys 1,701 Shares of AAR Corp. (NYSE:AIR)

Versor Investments LP raised its stake in AAR Corp. (NYSE:AIR) by 16.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 11,849 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,701 shares during the period. Versor Investments LP’s holdings in AAR were worth $726,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in AAR by 18.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 500,200 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $32,693,000 after buying an additional 77,974 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of AAR by 9.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 40,737 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,663,000 after purchasing an additional 3,612 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of AAR in the fourth quarter worth $1,539,000. Shelton Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AAR in the fourth quarter worth $1,068,000. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of AAR by 269.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 66,223 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $4,328,000 after purchasing an additional 48,298 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.74% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AAR news, CFO Sean M. Gillen sold 17,385 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.33, for a total value of $1,153,147.05. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 72,326 shares in the company, valued at $4,797,383.58. The trade was a 19.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO John Mcclain Holmes III sold 128,427 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.76, for a total transaction of $8,573,786.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 346,680 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,144,356.80. This represents a 27.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 185,793 shares of company stock valued at $12,538,396. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AIR. KeyCorp began coverage on shares of AAR in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $83.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of AAR from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of AAR in a research report on Monday, November 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, AAR currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.50.

AAR Stock Performance

NYSE AIR opened at $64.88 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $65.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $65.13. AAR Corp. has a 1 year low of $54.71 and a 1 year high of $76.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 231.72 and a beta of 1.61.

AAR (NYSE:AIR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 7th. The aerospace company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.07. AAR had a net margin of 0.41% and a return on equity of 10.46%. The firm had revenue of $686.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $654.47 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.81 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 25.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that AAR Corp. will post 3.77 EPS for the current 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.