AAON (NASDAQ:AAON) Stock Price Up 6.5% Following Dividend Announcement

Shares of AAON, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAON) were up 6.5% on Wednesday after the company announced a dividend. The company traded as high as $81.46 and last traded at $80.11. Approximately 209,149 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 67% from the average daily volume of 629,147 shares. The stock had previously closed at $75.25.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. This is an increase from AAON’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. AAON’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.92%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com cut AAON from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of AAON from $155.00 to $116.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on shares of AAON from $150.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, CJS Securities raised shares of AAON from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $110.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $115.50.

AAON Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a current ratio of 3.06. The company has a market cap of $6.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.74 and a beta of 0.87. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $114.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $114.16.

AAON declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, March 4th that permits the company to repurchase $30.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the construction company to repurchase up to 0.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Rebecca Thompson sold 5,000 shares of AAON stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.00, for a total transaction of $690,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,297 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,386,986. The trade was a 22.42 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Stephen E. Wakefield sold 5,362 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.99, for a total transaction of $702,368.38. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 4,558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $597,052.42. The trade was a 54.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 18.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AAON

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAON. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AAON by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,239,482 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $734,262,000 after acquiring an additional 75,832 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of AAON by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,260,526 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $351,615,000 after acquiring an additional 150,207 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in AAON by 15.6% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,032,497 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $239,184,000 after acquiring an additional 274,119 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in AAON by 0.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,977,531 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $213,257,000 after purchasing an additional 12,502 shares during the period. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP increased its stake in AAON by 39.1% in the third quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,866,746 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $201,310,000 after purchasing an additional 525,132 shares in the last quarter. 70.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AAON Company Profile

AAON, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in engineering, manufacturing, marketing, and selling air conditioning and heating equipment in the United States and Canada. The company operates through three segments: AAON Oklahoma, AAON Coil Products, and BASX. It offers rooftop units, data center cooling solutions, cleanroom systems, chillers, packaged outdoor mechanical rooms, air handling units, makeup air units, energy recovery units, condensing units, geothermal/water-source heat pumps, coils, and controls.