Bridgewater Associates LP Acquires Shares of 3,268 AAON, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAON)

Bridgewater Associates LP bought a new position in shares of AAON, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAON) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 3,268 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $385,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mather Group LLC. boosted its position in AAON by 521.6% in the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 230 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Twin Tree Management LP purchased a new position in AAON in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in AAON during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in AAON by 67.5% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 325 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AAON by 28.4% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 380 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. 70.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at AAON

In other AAON news, Director David Raymond Stewart bought 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $80.86 per share, for a total transaction of $80,860.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 3,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $242,580. This trade represents a 50.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 18.55% of the company’s stock.

AAON Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAON opened at $82.46 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $6.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.33 and a beta of 0.96. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $86.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $109.97. AAON, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $68.98 and a fifty-two week high of $144.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 3.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

AAON announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, March 4th that authorizes the company to repurchase $30.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the construction company to repurchase up to 0.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

AAON Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. This is an increase from AAON’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 18th. AAON’s payout ratio is 19.90%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on AAON. CJS Securities upgraded AAON from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $110.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on AAON from $155.00 to $116.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. StockNews.com downgraded AAON from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, DA Davidson lowered their price target on shares of AAON from $150.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $115.50.

About AAON

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.