Palisade Capital Management LP Invests $11.50 Million in AAR Corp. $AIR

Palisade Capital Management LP purchased a new position in AAR Corp. (NYSE:AIR) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 80,481 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,503,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Lido Advisors LLC grew its stake in AAR by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 3,618 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $318,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in AAR by 12.2% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,162 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $97,000 after buying an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AAR by 1.7% during the first 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 period. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AAR by 19.3% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 950 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $79,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares during the period. Finally, Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AAR by 10.7% during the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,606 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $176,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.74% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AIR has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of AAR from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of AAR from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of AAR in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of AAR from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut AAR from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $135.60.

AAR Stock Performance

Shares of AIR opened at $135.41 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.40 billion, a PE ratio of 28.04 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 2.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $138.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $122.33. AAR Corp. has a 52-week low of $73.05 and a 52-week high of $154.00.

AAR (NYSE:AIR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The aerospace company reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.38 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $928.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $893.03 million. AAR had a net margin of 5.67% and a return on equity of 12.67%. AAR’s revenue was up 23.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.16 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that AAR Corp. will post 5.92 earnings per share 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.