AAR (NYSE:AIR) Reaches New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

Shares of AAR Corp. (NYSE:AIR) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $127.39 and last traded at $127.3540, with a volume of 320171 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $117.36.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AIR. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on AAR from $105.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on AAR to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. Weiss Ratings downgraded AAR from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Zacks Research downgraded AAR from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded AAR from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.20.

AAR Stock Performance

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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $113.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $104.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.06 billion, a PE ratio of 28.24 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, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $812.58 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.99 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that AAR Corp. will post 4.97 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AAR 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 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 3.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AIR. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in AAR by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,061,230 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $336,229,000 after acquiring an additional 281,871 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in AAR by 17.1% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,320,927 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $192,150,000 after acquiring an additional 339,595 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in AAR by 17.4% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,745,352 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $144,498,000 after acquiring an additional 258,577 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in AAR by 36.9% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,154,167 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $107,752,000 after acquiring an additional 311,258 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in AAR by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,122,792 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $92,956,000 after acquiring an additional 80,265 shares in the last quarter. 90.74% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.