Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Boosts Holdings in AAR Corp. (NYSE:AIR)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its position in shares of AAR Corp. (NYSE:AIR) by 0.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 791,314 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,047 shares during the quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in AAR were worth $48,491,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of AAR by 89.1% in the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 15,087 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $986,000 after buying an additional 7,108 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. increased its stake in AAR by 12.7% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 71,869 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $4,697,000 after purchasing an additional 8,113 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of AAR by 24.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 109,543 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $7,160,000 after purchasing an additional 21,342 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in shares of AAR by 5.9% during the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 9,843 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $643,000 after purchasing an additional 551 shares during the period. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its holdings in shares of AAR by 2.6% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 74,736 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $4,885,000 after purchasing an additional 1,900 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.74% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at AAR

In other AAR news, CAO Jessica A. Garascia sold 1,500 shares of AAR stock in a transaction on Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.90, for a total value of $100,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 37,565 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,513,098.50. The trade was a 3.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO John Mcclain Holmes III sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.81, for a total value of $354,050.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 341,680 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,194,360.80. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 185,793 shares of company stock valued at $12,538,396. Corporate insiders own 4.10% of the company’s stock.

AAR Stock Down 2.1 %

NYSE:AIR opened at $68.24 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The firm has a market cap of $2.45 billion, a PE ratio of 243.73 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a 50-day moving average of $66.95 and a 200 day moving average of $65.49. AAR Corp. has a 1-year low of $54.71 and a 1-year high of $76.34.

AAR (NYSE:AIR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 27th. The aerospace company reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $678.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $699.13 million. AAR had a net margin of 0.41% and a return on equity of 10.46%. AAR’s revenue was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.85 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that AAR Corp. will post 3.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of AAR from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. KeyCorp began coverage on AAR in a report on Thursday, January 16th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $83.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.50.

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.