Phocas Financial Corp. Has $1.24 Million Holdings in AAR Corp. (NYSE:AIR)

Phocas Financial Corp. cut its position in shares of AAR Corp. (NYSE:AIR) by 85.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 20,289 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 115,520 shares during the period. Phocas Financial Corp.’s holdings in AAR were worth $1,243,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its stake in AAR by 20.5% in the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 790,267 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $51,652,000 after acquiring an additional 134,215 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of AAR by 13.4% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 969,741 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $59,591,000 after buying an additional 114,460 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AAR by 18.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 500,200 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $32,693,000 after buying an additional 77,974 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 48,298 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canal Insurance CO boosted its position in shares of AAR by 124.3% in the fourth quarter. Canal Insurance CO now owns 72,000 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $4,412,000 after acquiring an additional 39,900 shares during the period. 90.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on AIR. StockNews.com cut shares of AAR from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 price target on shares of AAR in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, KeyCorp initiated coverage on AAR in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $83.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.50.

AAR Stock Performance

NYSE:AIR opened at $63.33 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $65.71 and a 200-day moving average of $65.15. AAR Corp. has a 1 year low of $54.71 and a 1 year high of $76.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 226.19 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

AAR (NYSE:AIR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 7th. The aerospace company reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.07. AAR had a return on equity of 10.46% and a net margin of 0.41%. The company had revenue of $686.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $654.47 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.81 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 25.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that AAR Corp. will post 3.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at AAR

In other news, CAO Jessica A. Garascia sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.90, for a total value of $100,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 37,565 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,513,098.50. This represents a 3.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO John Mcclain Holmes III sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.81, for a total value of $354,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 341,680 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,194,360.80. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 185,793 shares of company stock valued at $12,538,396. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

AAR Profile

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.