Fred Alger Management LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in AAR Corp. $AIR

Fred Alger Management LLC decreased its holdings in AAR Corp. (NYSE:AIR) by 12.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 609,391 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 85,011 shares during the quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC’s holdings in AAR were worth $50,451,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AIR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in AAR by 61.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 91,520 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $8,207,000 after purchasing an additional 34,689 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in AAR by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,061,230 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $336,229,000 after purchasing an additional 281,871 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in AAR by 480.4% in the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 155,987 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $13,987,000 after purchasing an additional 129,113 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in AAR by 22.5% in the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 61,619 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $5,101,000 after purchasing an additional 11,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP bought a new position in AAR in the fourth quarter worth $1,230,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.74% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at AAR

In other news, CEO John Mcclain Holmes III sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.41, for a total transaction of $6,744,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 235,064 shares in the company, valued at $26,423,544.24. This trade represents a 20.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 3.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AIR has been the subject of a number of research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on AAR from $105.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. Truist Financial upgraded AAR to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings upgraded AAR from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on AAR to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded AAR from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.20.

AAR Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AIR opened at $130.15 on Wednesday. AAR Corp. has a 1-year low of $66.68 and a 1-year high of $134.74. 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 business has a fifty day moving average price of $115.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $105.85. The company has a market capitalization of $5.18 billion, a PE ratio of 28.86 and a beta of 1.13.

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

About AAR

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.