Short Interest in AAON, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAON) Declines By 6.7%

AAON, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAON) was the target of a large drop in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,540,000 shares, a drop of 6.7% from the December 15th total of 1,650,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 434,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.5 days.

AAON Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAON opened at $130.18 on Friday. AAON has a 1-year low of $69.54 and a 1-year high of $144.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.58 billion, a PE ratio of 57.35 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 3.06 and a quick ratio of 1.79. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $129.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $108.87.

AAON (NASDAQ:AAON) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The construction company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.06. AAON had a net margin of 15.78% and a return on equity of 24.98%. The company had revenue of $327.25 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $315.80 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.64 earnings per share. AAON’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that AAON will post 2.26 EPS for the current year.

AAON Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.25%. AAON’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.10%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAON has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Baird R W raised shares of AAON from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on AAON from $102.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on AAON from $130.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Sidoti downgraded AAON from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $102.00 to $111.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.00.

Insider Transactions at AAON

In related news, VP Casey Kidwell sold 4,796 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.38, for a total value of $654,078.48. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 4,953 shares in the company, valued at approximately $675,490.14. The trade was a 49.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Stephen E. Wakefield sold 5,362 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.99, for a total value of $702,368.38. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 4,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $597,052.42. This trade represents a 54.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 57,329 shares of company stock worth $7,663,726 in the last three months. 18.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in shares of AAON by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 8,796 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $949,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in shares of AAON by 67.5% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 325 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AAON by 4.5% during the third quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 3,601 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $388,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its stake in AAON by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 6,486 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $699,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in AAON by 202.0% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 296 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 198 shares during the period. 70.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AAON Company Profile

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.