AAR (NYSE:AIR) Raised to Strong-Buy at KeyCorp

AAR (NYSE:AIR) was upgraded by equities researchers at KeyCorp to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports. KeyCorp also issued estimates for AAR’s FY2025 earnings at $3.83 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $4.63 EPS.

AIR has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $75.00 price objective on shares of AAR in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $83.00 price target on shares of AAR in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of AAR from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AAR presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.50.

AAR Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of AIR stock opened at $70.61 on Wednesday. AAR has a fifty-two week low of $54.71 and a fifty-two week high of $76.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.54 billion, a PE ratio of 252.17 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a current ratio of 2.68. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $65.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $65.23.

AAR (NYSE:AIR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 7th. The aerospace company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $686.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $654.47 million. AAR had a net margin of 0.41% and a return on equity of 10.46%. AAR’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.81 EPS. Equities analysts expect that AAR will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at AAR

In other AAR news, CEO John Mcclain Holmes III sold 128,427 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.76, for a total transaction of $8,573,786.52. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 346,680 shares in the company, valued at $23,144,356.80. This represents a 27.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Sean M. Gillen sold 17,385 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.33, for a total value of $1,153,147.05. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 72,326 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,797,383.58. This represents a 19.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 147,312 shares of company stock valued at $9,827,284. 4.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AAR

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of AAR by 18.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 500,200 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $32,693,000 after purchasing an additional 77,974 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its stake in AAR by 269.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 66,223 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $4,328,000 after buying an additional 48,298 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in AAR by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,588,893 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $115,513,000 after buying an additional 48,630 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its position in AAR by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 22,859 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,494,000 after buying an additional 893 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its position in AAR by 24.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 109,543 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $7,160,000 after buying an additional 21,342 shares during the period. 90.74% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About AAR

AAR Corp. provides products and services to commercial aviation, government, and defense markets worldwide. The Parts Supply segment leases and sells aircraft components and replacement parts. The Repair & Engineering segment provides airframe maintenance services, such as airframe inspection, painting, line maintenance, airframe modification, structural repair, avionics service and installation, exterior and interior refurbishment, and engineering and support services; component repair services comprising maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) services, engine and airframe accessories, and interior refurbishment; and landing gear overhaul services, including repair services on wheels and brakes.