ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Buys Shares of 3,240 AAR Corp. $AIR

Key Points

• ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. acquired 3,240 shares of AAR Corp. (NYSE:AIR) in Q2, valued at approximately $223,000, as part of a growing trend of institutional investment in the company.
• Several analysts have upgraded AAR's stock rating, with Wall Street Zen and Zacks Research moving it from "hold" to "buy," indicating increasing optimism about the company's performance.
• AAR Corp. reported earnings of $1.08 per share for the last quarter, exceeding expectations, with revenue growing 11.8% year-over-year.

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new stake in AAR Corp. (NYSE:AIR - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 3,240 shares of the aerospace company's stock, valued at approximately $223,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AIR. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in AAR by 10,454.2% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 63,325 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $3,546,000 after purchasing an additional 62,725 shares in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in AAR by 13.4% in the first quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 15,453 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $865,000 after purchasing an additional 1,828 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in AAR in the first quarter valued at approximately $526,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in AAR by 10.8% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 36,171 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $2,025,000 after purchasing an additional 3,513 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sheets Smith Wealth Management increased its stake in AAR by 3.8% in the first quarter. Sheets Smith Wealth Management now owns 7,281 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $408,000 after purchasing an additional 266 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.74% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of AAR from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Sunday, September 28th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of AAR from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 24th. Zacks Research raised shares of AAR from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of AAR from $86.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of AAR in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $89.33.

AAR Stock Down 2.6%

AAR stock opened at $81.78 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 104.84 and a beta of 1.52. AAR Corp. has a 1-year low of $46.51 and a 1-year high of $89.69. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $76.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $68.05. The company has a current ratio of 2.91, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82.

AAR (NYSE:AIR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, September 23rd. The aerospace company reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $739.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $692.47 million. AAR had a net margin of 1.01% and a return on equity of 12.29%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.50 earnings per share. AAR has set its Q2 2026 guidance at EPS. Research analysts anticipate that AAR Corp. will post 3.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other AAR news, Director Jennifer L. Vogel sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.07, for a total value of $546,490.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 22,970 shares in the company, valued at $1,793,267.90. This trade represents a 23.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Jessica A. Garascia sold 3,631 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.08, for a total transaction of $279,877.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 39,117 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,015,138.36. This represents a 8.49% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 95,182 shares of company stock worth $7,331,452. 3.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About AAR

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.

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