First Trust Advisors LP Increases Stock Holdings in AAR Corp. $AIR

First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of AAR Corp. (NYSE:AIR) by 20.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 90,749 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after buying an additional 15,345 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned approximately 0.23% of AAR worth $9,933,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in AAR by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 8,073 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $884,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in AAR by 10.7% during the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,606 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $176,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in shares of AAR by 2.4% in the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 21,561 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,360,000 after purchasing an additional 510 shares in the last quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of AAR by 39.0% in the first quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 7,405 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $811,000 after purchasing an additional 2,079 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust grew its position in shares of AAR by 10.9% in the first quarter. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust now owns 280,257 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $30,677,000 after purchasing an additional 27,485 shares during the last quarter. 90.74% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on AIR shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of AAR from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of AAR in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Weiss Ratings upgraded AAR from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on AAR from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price target on AAR from $128.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $135.60.

AAR Price Performance

AIR stock opened at $140.00 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.98 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 2.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. AAR Corp. has a 52-week low of $71.43 and a 52-week high of $146.75. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $130.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $117.66.

AAR (NYSE:AIR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The aerospace company reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.38 by $0.15. AAR had a return on equity of 12.67% and a net margin of 5.67%.The firm had revenue of $928.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $893.03 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.16 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 23.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that AAR Corp. will post 5.92 EPS for the current year.

AAR Profile

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.