Wall Street Zen Downgrades AAON (NASDAQ:AAON) to Sell

AAON (NASDAQ:AAON - Get Free Report) was downgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report released on Saturday.

AAON has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on AAON from $155.00 to $116.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. CJS Securities upgraded AAON from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $110.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, DA Davidson cut their target price on AAON from $150.00 to $125.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $115.50.

AAON Stock Down 1.6%

NASDAQ:AAON traded down $1.16 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $72.99. The stock had a trading volume of 1,011,451 shares, compared to its average volume of 678,628. The business's 50 day moving average is $91.64 and its 200 day moving average is $103.00. AAON has a fifty-two week low of $68.98 and a fifty-two week high of $144.07. The stock has a market cap of $5.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.15 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 3.06 and a quick ratio of 1.79.

AAON (NASDAQ:AAON - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The construction company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $322.05 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $289.16 million. AAON had a return on equity of 24.98% and a net margin of 15.78%. The company's revenue was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.46 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that AAON will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current year.

AAON announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, March 4th that allows the company to repurchase $30.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the construction company to purchase up to 0.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Gary D. Fields sold 37,189 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.20, for a total value of $3,651,959.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 63,714 shares in the company, valued at $6,256,714.80. This trade represents a 36.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Gordon Douglas Wichman sold 21,302 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.48, for a total value of $2,225,632.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 8,754 shares in the company, valued at approximately $914,617.92. This represents a 70.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 70,823 shares of company stock worth $7,122,451. 18.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AAON

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its holdings in AAON by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 18,700 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $2,201,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in AAON by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,016 shares of the construction company's stock worth $237,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Smith Moore & CO. boosted its holdings in AAON by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Smith Moore & CO. now owns 3,300 shares of the construction company's stock worth $388,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Curi RMB Capital LLC boosted its holdings in AAON by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Curi RMB Capital LLC now owns 18,503 shares of the construction company's stock worth $2,177,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP boosted its holdings in AAON by 49.0% during the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 313 shares of the construction company's stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.81% of the company's stock.

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.