AAON, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAON) Short Interest Up 48.4% in February

AAON, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAON) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,330,000 shares, a growth of 48.4% from the January 31st total of 1,570,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 586,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.0 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AAON news, VP Stephen E. Wakefield sold 5,362 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.99, for a total transaction of $702,368.38. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 4,558 shares in the company, valued at $597,052.42. This represents a 54.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Rebecca Thompson sold 5,000 shares of AAON stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.00, for a total value of $690,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 17,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,386,986. This trade represents a 22.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 18.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AAON

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of AAON during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $76,581,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in AAON during the 4th quarter worth $73,313,000. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its position in AAON by 39.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,866,746 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $201,310,000 after purchasing an additional 525,132 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of AAON by 85.6% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,069,112 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $125,813,000 after buying an additional 493,219 shares during the period. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new position in shares of AAON during the 4th quarter worth $42,449,000. 70.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AAON Stock Performance

AAON stock opened at $73.51 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $5.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.38 and a beta of 0.87. AAON has a twelve month low of $70.28 and a twelve month high of $144.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 3.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $115.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $114.26.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAON has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. CJS Securities upgraded AAON from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $110.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com lowered shares of AAON from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of AAON from $155.00 to $116.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, DA Davidson reduced their price objective on shares of AAON from $150.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $115.50.

About AAON

AAON, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in engineering, manufacturing, marketing, and selling air conditioning and heating equipment in the United States and Canada. The company operates through three segments: AAON Oklahoma, AAON Coil Products, and BASX. It offers rooftop units, data center cooling solutions, cleanroom systems, chillers, packaged outdoor mechanical rooms, air handling units, makeup air units, energy recovery units, condensing units, geothermal/water-source heat pumps, coils, and controls.